1  \..  :,,:._ 
BL  262  .S55  1912 
Simpson,  James  Young,  1873- 

1934. 
The  spiritual  interpretatio: 

of  nature 


THE   SPIRITUAL   INTERPRETATION 

OF   NATURE 


THE   SPIRITUAL^^'""''' 
INTERPRETATION 
OF   NATURE 


BY 


JAMES  Y.  SIMPSON,  D.Sc,  F.R.S.E. 

PROFESSOR   OF    NATURAL   SCIENCE,    NEW   COLLEGE,    EDINBURGH 


SECOND  EDITION 


HODDER    AND    STOUGHTON 
LONDON       NEW  YORK       TORONTO 


Printed  in  igi2 


TO 

MY  FATHER 


"  He  is  in  the  world,  and  the  world  is  being  made 
by  Him,  and  the  world  knows  Him  not." — John  i.  lo 
(from  my  father's  Bible). 


vu 


PREFACE 

These  chapters,  which  have  grown  out  of  courses  of 
lectures  deHvered  both  in  this  country  and  in  America, 
are  addressed  to  those  who  in  their  earlier  outlook 
upon  Nature  felt  sure  of  her  inherent  spirituality,  but 
latterly  have  found  difficulty  in  bringing  this  conception 
into  line  with  some  of  the  results  of  modern  scientific 
thought.  They  contain,  therefore,  little  for  the  special- 
ist in  science  and  philosophy,  except  perhaps  in 
Chapters  III.  and  IV.,  whose  conclusions  may  suffice 
for  the  general  reader.  For  some  schools  of  theology, 
they  possibly  contain  nothing  at  all. 

Where  a  writer's  range  of  indebtedness  is  great,  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  indicate  it  even  by  continuous  foot- 
notes, although  that  has  been  attempted  here  in  some 
degree.  In  addition  to  the  stimuli  of  many  writings — 
in  particular  the  volume  of  Papers  read  before  the 
Synthetic  Society^  kindly  given  to  me  by  Mr.  Wilfrid 
Ward — I  would  acknowledge  my  gratitude  to  him 
from  whose  New  Testament  I  have  taken  his  reading 
of  a  familiar  verse,  while  to  Dr.  Sutherland  Black  I  have 
owed  much  through  many  years.  Nor  can  I  refrain 
from  stating  what  I  have  learned  in  conversation  from 
my  friend  Professor  John  Clark  of  Boston  University. 
Certain  chapters  and  pages  on  topics  relevant  to  their 

ix 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

lines  of  special  study  have  been  read  by  my  friends 
Dr.  Cargill  Knott  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Ashworth,  while  Dr. 
John  Kelman  has  added  to  a  long  list  of  kindnesses  by 
reading  the  book  in  proof.  Finally,  I  would  express  my 
indebtedness  to  Messrs.  T.  &  T.  Clark  for  their  courtesy 
in  permitting  my  use  of  the  article  "Biology,"  con- 
tributed by  me  to  their  Dictionary  of  Ethics  and 
Religion  as  a  basis  for  Chapters  III.  and  IV.,  as  also  to 
Mrs.  H.  M.  Bernard  for  permission  to  use  the  illustra- 
tion on  p.  74  from  her  husband's  book,  Some  Neglected 
Factors  in  Evolution. 

J.  Y.  SIMPSON. 
New  College,  Edinburgh. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction i 


CHAPTER   I 
Knowledge  and  Faith ii 

CHAPTER   II 

Influence  of  Science  upon  Religious  Thought    .       37 

CHAPTER   III 
Principles  of  Biology 53 

CHAPTER   IV 
Principles  of  Biology  {continued)     ....       86 


CHAPTER   V 

I 
Evolution .        .122  i 

xi  ,1 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 


CHAPTER   VI 

PAGE 

Natural  Selection i44 


CHAPTER   VII 
Variation   . 169 

CHAPTER   VIII 
Heredity 188 

CHAPTER   IX 

Some  Sociological  Aspects  of  Heredity         .        .     218 

CHAPTER  X 
Environment 238 

CHAPTER   XI 

The  Directive  Factor  in  Evolution       .         .         .     254 

CHAPTER   XII 
Evolution  and  Creation 277 

CHAPTER   XIII 

Mental  Evolution 298 

xii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   XIV 


PAGE 


Evolution  and  Morality 321 

CHAPTER   XV 
Evolution  and  Evil 331 

CHAPTER   XVI 

Science  and  Miracle 348 

CHAPTER   XVII 
Evolution  and  Immortality 364 


Xlll 


LIST    OF    FIGURES 

FIG.  PAGE 

1.  General  View  of   Cells   in   the  Growing   Root- 

tip  OF  THE  Onion 68 

2.  Semi-diagrammatic  Representation  of  a  Cell       .      70 

3.  Chromidial  Unit  and  Aggregate      ....      74 

4.  Fertilised  Ovum  of  Ascaris 105 

5.  Later  Stage  in  Fertilisation  {Ascaris)  .        .       .105 

6.  Cleavage  of  the  Ovum  of  the  Sea-Urchin  Toxo- 

pneustes 113 

7.  Diagram    illustrating    Weismann's    Theory    of 

Inheritance 201 

8.  Diagram  showing  Essential  Parts  of  an  Appar- 

atus   OF    Exchange    between    the    External 
World  and  Consciousness 303 


XV 


INTRODUCTION 

In  that  intellectual  conquest  of  the  world  which  is 
the  aim  of  every  thinking  man,  no  moment  is  more 
decisive  than  that  in  which  he  resolves  with  Matthew 
Arnold  to  see  things  steadily  and  see  them  whole. 
Like  every  human  quest  of  the  ideal  it  is  unrealisable 
on  this  plane  of  existence,  being  an  attribute  of  the 
Divine.  But  the  aspiration  itself  is  significant  and 
bears  witness  to  that  in  man  which  is  more  than  merely 
human. 

The  moment  is  fateful  in  many  ways.  In  it  is 
begotten  a  discontent  that  no  closed  system  of  science 
or  philosophy  or  theology  will  ever  satisfy.  The  more 
complete  the  system,  the  more  acute  the  irritation. 
Particularly  in  the  comparative  study  of  the  reciprocal 
influence  of  the  two  great  viewpoints  of  truth  that  are 
roughly  characterised  as  religious  and  scientific  is  this 
unrest  felt.  The  average  man  is  educated  in  secondary 
schools  where  nature  study  is  increasingly  demanded. 
He  passes  through  courses  of  scientific  instruction,  and 
sooner  or  later — if  he  thinks  at  all — he  is  compelled 
to  contrast  the  fundamentals  of  this  discipline  with 
the  fundamentals  of  a  theology  which  is  still  largely 
mediaeval.  His  endeavour  is  to  reach  an  interpreta- 
tion of  Nature,  to  attain  an  account  of  things  that  will 
be  consistent,  not  merely  with  itself  but  with  this  other 
record ;  but  he  soon  realises  that  there  is  much  that  is 
disparate  in  the  two  points  of  view,  many  things  that  are 
A  I 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

mutually  destructive,  and  particularly  in  the  regions 
where  science  and  theology  directly  impinge  is  the 
incompatibility  felt  to  be  greatest. 

It  is  open  to  remark  that  such  an  intellectual  rest- 
lessness is  quite  gratuitous, — how  can  there  be  re- 
lationship in  any  sense  between  the  conceptions  of 
science  and  theology  ?  Thus  from  the  side  of  science 
it  is  said :  ''  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain, 
after  many  years  in  which  these  matters  have  engaged 
my  attention,  there  is  no  relation,  in  the  sefise  of  a 
connection  or  influence,  between  Science  and  Religion. 
There  is,  it  is  true,  often  an  antagonistic  relation 
between  exponents  of  science  and  exponents  of  religion 
when  the  latter  illegitimately  misrepresent  or  deny  the 
conclusions  of  scientific  research  or  try  to  prevent  its 
being  carried  on,  or,  again,  when  the  former  presume, 
by  magnifying  the  extremely  limited  conclusions  of 
science,  to  deal  in  a  destructive  spirit  with  the  very 
existence  of  those  beliefs  and  hopes  which  are  called 
*  religion.'  Setting  aside  such  excusable  and  purely 
personal  collisions  between  rival  claimants  for  authority 
and  power,  it  appears  to  me  that  science  proceeds  on 
its  path  without  any  contact  with  religion,  and  that 
religion  has  not,  in  its  essential  qualities,  anything  to 
hope  for,  or  to  fear  from,  science."  ^  Regarding  the 
somewhat  shallow  characterisation  of  "  those  beliefs 
and  hopes  which  are  called  '  religion,'  "  we  only  remark 
that  many  of  them  are  held  by  men  of  strong  and 
sound  mind,  who  simply  would  not  entertain  them  if 
they  lacked  connection  with  the  general,  nay,  with 
whatever  special  scientific,  scheme  of  thought  they 
have  adopted.  Their  sense  of  the  unity  of  knowledge, 
i.e.  the  unity  of  truth,  compels  them  to  consider  the 
relations  of  scientific  and  theological  thought.      Know- 

^  Sir  E.  Ray  Lankester,  The  Kingdom  of  Man,  p.  63. 
2 


INTRODUCTION 

ledge  or  Experience  is  not  divided  into  water-tight 
compartments  where  the  activity  in  one  compartment 
is  absolutely  isolated  and  uninfluenced  by  what  goes 
on  in  any  other.  There  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  tendency 
towards  ultimate  unity  and  rationality  in  all  experience. 
Whether  that  unity  is  in  the  attaining  human  mind,  or 
in  some  mind  external  to  it,  does  not  really  matter  at 
this  stage.  The  indications  of  it  are  there,  and  they 
are  only  perceived  by  mind.  These  approximations 
towards  unity  suggest  that  there  is  a  complete  under- 
standing, a  perfect  knowledge,  a  final  statement, — 
in  short,  that  knowledge  (truth)  is  a  whole,  even  as 
the  universe,  of  which  knowledge  is  the  attempted 
comprehension,  is  a  whole ;  and  all  the  parts  are 
interdependent. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who  maintain 
that  in  the  scientific  and  philosophical  contemplation 
of  Nature  there  is  nothing  that  is  of  assistance  to 
theological  thought.  The  experiences  of  the  human 
soul  in  every  age  are  for  them  the  only  important 
facts ;  they  are  the  only  valid  witness  to  divinity. 
Here  in  the  communion  of  the  soul  with  God  the  re- 
ligious man  has  that  which  alone  is  of  real  and  lasting 
value,  that,  moreover,  which  science  cannot  take  from 
him.  The  objective  side  of  religion,  so  far  as  it  is 
expressed  in  dogma,  may  be  suffered  to  go  its  own 
way :  it  is  not  ultimately  necessary,  it  is  something 
always  vulnerable  by  scientific  criticism.  The  rich 
spiritual  experiences  of  the  soul  wherein  it  hopes,  and 
fears,  and  loves,  and  learns,  are  the  only  witness,  clear 
and  unequivocal,  to  the  Source  of  Being.  Such  a 
mind  may  even  think  it  blasphemy  to  attempt  to  find 
out  how  God  may  be  expected  to  act,  from  a  con- 
sideration of  His  working  in  the  past  and  present :  it 
affirms  only  a  rich  incalculable  liberty  of  action  which 

3 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

the  waiting  soul  may  gladly  experience,  but  will 
never  even  attempt  to  systematize.  A  life  of  faith,  of 
rapture,  of  unexpected  and  unimaginable  experiences 
— in  these  alone  is  found  the  transcendent  witness  to 
Divinity.  So  W.  Herrmann,  in  Ritschlian  endeavour 
to  obtain  a  place  for  religion  where  she  will  be  unassail- 
able by  the  solvent  touch  of  science,  insists  :  "  The 
evangelical  faith,  because  it  ought  to  be  an  in- 
dependent possession  of  the  moral  personality,  must 
remain  unentangled  with  the  present-day  development 
of  free  natural  science."  ^  But  any  isolation  of  these 
soul-states  is  purely  fanciful.  They  may  be  proffered 
tokens  of  a  transcendent  Presence,  but  they  are  also 
linked  with  the  ordinary  life  of  the  individual  who 
experiences  them,  and  so  with  the  life  of  the  world. 
They  may  even,  as  being  given  and  experienced  in 
consciousness,  become  legitimate  objects  of  scientific 
examination  and  account,  incomplete  and  partial  as 
that  account  may  be.  If  on  one  side  in  touch  with 
the  unseen  and  eternal,  they  yet  are  set  within  the 
temporal  and  visible. 

And  further,  this  extreme  position,  when  regarded 
from  the  standpoint  not  merely  of  the  unity  of  human 
knowledge  but  of  the  unity  of  Nature,  is  seen  to  be 
little  less  than  intellectual  suicide.  For  if  the  world  is 
God's,  then  must  it  bear  witness  to  divine  origin  and 
control,  and  the  one  thing  that  can  no  longer  be 
permitted  is  the  isolation  of  any  special  object  in 
the  universe,  e.g.,  man,  or  any  faculty  of  that  object, 
and  the  predicating  of  it  relations  and  correspondences 
that  are  construed  to  imply  an  essential  incompatibility 
between  that  object  and  the  whole  of  which  it  is  a 
part.  If  God  is,  then  that  which  He  has  made  must 
bear  witness  to    Him ;    it    must  be    in   some  sort    of 

^  Die  Religion,  Preface,  p.  iv. 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

intelligible  relation  to  Him.^  Science  and  Religion 
afford  two  partial  accounts  of  that  ultimate  unity  in 
which  every  man  lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being. 
For  even  if  it  were  granted  that  the  one  moved  more  in 
the  realm  of  Intellect  and  the  other  in  that  of  Feeling, 
yet  it  is  in  consciousness  that  man  is  aware  of  them 
both  and  exercises  himself  in  relation  to  them.  Through 
them  he  comes  into  correspondence  with,  and  forms  his 
idea  of,  the  Divine  Nature. 

Natural  Science  and  Theology  are  thus  two  living 
bodies  of  thought  which  in  virtue  of  their  very  life — 
Hfe  that  implies  assimilation  of  all  assimilable  elements 
in  its  environment — grow  and  expand  and  change 
from  age  to  age  in  outward  form  and  inward  content, 
and  shall  continue  so  to  do  until  that  day  when  their 
relationship  as  complementary  expressions  of  funda- 
mental truth  will  be  universally  appreciated.  And 
while  this  implies  that  in  general  all  features  that  are 
obviously  contradictory  must  be  excluded,  there  is  at  the 
same  time  no  call  to  insist  upon  absolute  correspondence 
of  detail  between  all  schemes  of  scientific  and  of  theo- 
logical construction,  still  less  to  attempt  any  so-called 
reconciliation  between  Science  and  Revelation.  If,  then, 
there  is  this  fundamental  linkage  of  thought,  this 
reciprocal  influence  of  allied  studies,  it  is  beside  the 
mark  to  urge  that  the  day  in  which  Theology  had  any- 
thing to  hope  or  fear  from  Science  is  past.  In  an  age 
whose  practical  interest  is  sociology  and  which  tends  to 
express  its  religion  in  terms  of  psychology,  it  may  be 
difficult  to  persuade  men  that  the  relations  of  scientific 
and  religious  thought  will  be  an  increasingly  important 

1  Acts  xvii.  26-28  ;  Rom.  i.  20.  Paul,  in  the  latter  passage,  seems  to 
indicate  his  impression  that  primitive  peoples  reached  their  belief  in  God 
not  through  intuition,  but  through  some  mode  of  reasoning  akin  to  the 
argument  from  design. 

5 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

question.  Yet  the  philosophy  of  Nature,  in  whatever 
terms  expressed,  cannot  but  touch  her  sublimest  product ; 
it  is  man's  way  of  thinking  about  her,  of  studying  his 
relation  to  her.  It  may  be  formulated  in  many  ways, 
— there  are  many  systems.  We  want  to  reach  that 
one  which  shall  most  truly  include  all  the  facts  and 
most  worthily  express  man's  possibilities.  To-day  we 
cannot  but  be  aware  of  views  specially  characteristic  of 
the  age,  that  are  moulding  the  minds  and  even  the 
hearts  of  men.  The  workers  whose  dealings  are  with 
Nature  feel  very  certain  of  her,  and  some  amongst  them 
build  up  their  whole  view  of  things,  starting  from  what 
they  believe  they  know,  while  the  doctrines  that  have 
been  collected  under  the  name  of  theology  they  tend 
to  set  on  one  side  as  being  largely  in  the  clouds  and 
apparently  without  any  definite  connection  with  the 
mass  of  knowledge  ordinarily  acquired.  And  so  there 
has  come  about  a  gradual  alienation  of  certain  strong 
and  scientific  minds,  who,  while  they  maintain  that 
there  is  a  natural  history  of  the  spirit,  tend  to  forget 
that  there  may  also  be  a  spiritual  history  of  Nature. 
Accordingly,  when  it  is  suggested  that  the  theologian 
should  strive  to  appreciate  for  himself  the  religious 
implications  of  science,  it  is  not  because  men  are  saved 
by  science — though  there  is  more  than  one  very  true 
sense  in  which  one  would  not  care  to  dispute  the  state- 
ment— but  rather  because  of  the  sympathetic  value  to 
himself  in  putting  his  mind  in  touch  with  the  trend  of 
the  most  distinctive  thought  of  the  day,  and  so  furnish- 
ing himself  with  additional  means  of  bridging  the  gulf 
between  his  intellectual  hemisphere  and  that  of  his 
usually  more  accurate,  if  more  prosaic,  scientific  neigh- 
bour. 

But  those  whose  business  is  the  commerce  of  the  mind 
are  few  compared  with  the  vast  companies  who  buy  and 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

sell  or  live  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  And  yet  it  is 
only  a  question  of  time  till  many  of  the  deliberations 
of  the  scientific  society  become  the  debated  questions 
of  the  factory  yard  and  market-place.  Hence  arise  the 
perpetual  difficulties  of  popular  thought.  To  bring 
these  out,  let  us  consider  the  close  parallel  that 
subsists  between  the  advance  of  an  army  and  the  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  progress  of  a  Church.  In  front 
are  the  prospecting  scouts  whose  duty  it  is  to  ascertain 
the  path  by  which  the  main  body  may  proceed  with 
greatest  safety.  It  is  their  business  to  be  on  the  outlook 
for  every  indication  of  fresh  light,  to  know  the  times 
and  seasons,  to  test  the  value  of  any  movement  in  a 
specific  direction,  to  detect  all  sources  of  possible  danger. 
To  them  must  be  given  perfect  liberty  of  investigation  : 
they  know  that  they  carry  their  lives  in  their  hands. 
Behind  them  marches  the  main  body,  at  a  very  ordi- 
nary pace,  moving  along  with  definite  halting-points; 
while  in  the  rear  come  the  laggards,  those  who  have 
failed  to  keep  up  with  the  main  body,  for  reasons  which 
may  be  in  no  way  discreditable  to  them.  It  would 
thus  appear  to  be  impossible  to  bring  everyone  forward 
at  the  same  time.  As  a  result,  country  that  is  familiar 
to  the  scouts  is  just  looming  on  the  horizon  of  the 
main  body,  while  it  is  a  terra  incognita  to  the  rear. 
Truth,  which  is  now  old  to  some  of  us,  is  only  arriving 
elsewhere.  This  is  the  case  not  merely  with  the 
different  mental  groupings  of  our  own  people ;  it  holds 
good  of  the  wide  world.^  Those  questions  concerning 
the  relationship  of  scientific  and  religious  thought  will 
always  be  with  us  in  some  form  or  another.  At  one 
time  the  clouds  may  be  lying  thick  upon  the  army  in 
the  plain  below,  while  the  scouts  are  above  it  high  up 
on  the  mountain    slopes.      At  other  times  it  may  be 

^  Cf.  P.  N.  Waggett,  Religion  and  Science,  p.  20. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

those  who  have  pressed  upward  and  onward  to  look 
ahead  who  have  found  themselves  temporarily  caught 
in  the  mist,  while  it  is  clear  in  the  valley  below. 
Nevertheless,  the  mists  are  ever  there  in  some  degree 
at  one  point  or  another, — a  necessary  element  of  our 
earthly  existence, — and  shall  be  until  that  morning 
breaks  when  they  roll  away  for  ever,  and  "  we  shall 
know  even  as  also  we  are  known." 

Further,  men  can  no  longer  remain  insensible  to 
those  great  scientific  truths  that  have  a  direct  bearing 
upon  conduct.  The  moral  significance  of  the  essential 
unity  of  life,  the  place  and  implication  of  life  and  death 
in  Nature,  and  the  principles  of  heredity,  are  instances 
from  the  organic  realm  that  offer  food  for  reflection 
which  will  assuredly  be  a  necessary  part  of  the  fare  of 
our  successors ;  the  inorganic  realm  is  likewise  by  no 
means  devoid  of  similar  spiritual  aliment.  And  it  is 
not  merely  on  the  constructive  side  that  this  generation 
finds  itself  face  to  face  with  a  new  work,  but  there  is 
much  call  for  careful  combat  of  half-truths  which  are 
often  in  their  results  more  direful  than  a  genuine  mis- 
statement. Thus  it  is  not  difficult  to  twist  the  doctrine 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  into  confirmation  of  the 
most  disastrous  conclusion  that  whatever  is,  is  right. 
This  must  be  met  by  showing  that  the  surviving  fitness 
need  not  necessarily  have  any  moral  content,  and  is 
never  synonymous  with  perfection.  Again  it  is  possible 
to  lay  such  emphasis  on  certain  aspects  of  scientific 
truth  that  the  individual  shall  feel  that  he  is  of  no 
account.  This  must  be  balanced  by  the  more  significant 
truth  that  every  human  being  is  a  trustee  of  those 
hard-earned  gains  of  the  aeonian  generations  of  life 
that  have  accumulated  to  form  the  natural  and  spiritual 
estate  of  man,  and  as  such  has  an  account  to  render. 

It  is  therefore  positively  in  the  interests  of  the  soul 


INTRODUCTION 

bent  on  the  adventure  of  faith  to  realise  the  essential 
kinship  of  all  knowledge,  but  more  particularly  the 
identity  of  mental  attitude  that  is  required  of  him  who 
would  understand  the  courses  of  the  stars  and  the  ways 
of  God  with  man.  It  is  no  longer  possible  to  maintain 
a  radical  distinction  between  mental  or  natural  science 
and  theology  either  in  the  nature  of  the  facts  with 
which  they  deal,  or  in  the  human  powers  that  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  these  facts,  or  yet  in  the  methods 
of  reasoning  that  may  be  applied  to  the  facts.  For 
theology,  when  she  treats  of  the  being  of  God,  can  but 
draw  her  data  from  the  facts  of  the  spiritual  and 
natural  worlds  as  they  are  written  in  the  Bible,  in  the 
pages  of  philosophy  and  science,  and  in  the  experience 
of  the  individual.  To  some  these  proofs  may  be  in- 
sufficient and  unsatisfactory,  but  there  are  no  others. 
The  world  as  the  great  antecedent  fact  of  divine 
creation  may  surely  be  held  to  contain  within  itself  the 
interpretation  not  merely  of  its  parts  but  of  its  relation 
to  that  which  constitutes  its  Ground.^  And  it  is  the 
most  striking  fact  in  this  connection  about  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  that  He  continually  saw  and  pointed  out  the 
reflection  of  His  spiritual  instruction  in  physical  events. 
The  natural  and  the  spiritual  were  united  in  His 
parables  as  they  are  united  in  reality, — two  aspects  of 
the  same  thing  yet  hardly  contemporaneous,  for  that 
which  is  first  is  natural,  afterwards  that  which  is 
spiritual.  It  is  only  the  heart  that  is  in  total  ignorance 
of  what  religion  is  that  either  in  fear  or  scornful  joy 
can  imagine  that  any  such  inquiry  can  result  in  damage 
to  religion.  The  sense  of  dependent  relationship  that 
is  involved  in  religion  cannot  be  touched  by  any  study 
of  the  intellectual  account  of  religious  experience 
usually  termed  theology.      The  personal  attachment  to 

^  Cf.  J.  Bascom,  Evolution  and  Religion,  p.  35. 

9 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Jesus  Christ  that  is  at  the  heart  of  any  genuine 
Christian  endeavour,  whether  individual  or  social,  is 
unaffectable  by  theories  of  His  life  and  work.  It 
furnishes  its  own  justification,  and  by  this  the  associa- 
tion of  miracle  or  of  wonder  with  Him  is  judged,  not 
vice  versa.  To  this  distance  the  following  studies  do 
not  extend.  We  are  simply  concerned  with  the  basal 
elements  in  all  experience,  and  the  relation  of  the 
particular  intellectual  accounts  that  have  been  popularly 
labelled  "  religious  "  and  "  scientific."  In  face  of  the 
rapid  formation  of  a  definite  religious  public  opinion 
outside  the  churches,  in  face  of  cleavages  of  opinion 
within  the  church,  in  face  of  the  fast  developing 
recognition  of  the  essentially  spiritual  character  of 
much  of  modern  science,  and  the  essentially  unscientific 
character  of  much  ancient  theology,  it  is  necessary  that 
our  age  look  at  these  questions  afresh  for  itself  In 
the  interpretation  of  Nature  man  has  always  felt 
himself  close  to  the  highest  he  has  known.  The  hearts 
of  the  Nature-worshippers  of  long-past  days  responded 
to  a  real  witness  of  divinity,  and  we  may  be  very  sure 
that  a  religion  that  resolutely  refuses  to  regard  this 
element  will  make  but  a  limited  appeal,  and  that  the 
book  of  reconstructed  Christian  theology  will  contain 
chapters  whose  inspiration  will  be  found  in  the  purified 
and  reverent  contemplation  of  Nature. 


10 


CHAPTER  I 

KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

At  the  threshold  of  all  inquiry  lies  necessarily  the 
question  of  the  nature  and  character  of  Knowledge, 
but  particularly  in  estimating  aright  the  reciprocal 
influence  of  Science  and  Religion,  so  often  contrasted 
as  Knowledge  and  Faith,  is  such  initial  investigation 
in  part  demanded.  Now  the  results  of  experience — 
the  ultimate  unity  and  rationality  of  which  we  have 
already  postulated — however  they  may  be  acquired, 
whether  won  at  first  hand  or  received  upon  the 
authority  of  others,  are  collectively  regarded  by  the 
individual  mind  as  knowledge.  Yet  there  is  knowledge 
and  knowledge.  The  man  in  the  street  has  knowledge 
of  a  certain  kind  ;  he  knows  that  the  sky  is  blue,  that 
the  grass  is  green,  and  many  other  facts  whose  practical 
value  is  probably  greater  to  him.  But  pass  into  the 
laboratory,  and  the  physicist  will  show  us  that  the 
luminosity  is  due  to  the  partial  reflection  of  light  from 
the  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere  ;  because  of  the 
minuteness  of  the  particles  of  air,  the  rays  of  quicker 
vibration  are  sent  back  in  greater  quantity,  thus 
producing  a  general  tint  of  blue.  The  botanist  will 
likewise  tell  us  that  the  verdure  of  the  grass  is  accounted 
for  by  the  existence  of  minute  intracellular  living  units 
called  chloroplasts  containing  a  green  substance  known 
as  chlorophyll,  whose  function  is  to  catch  more  particu- 

II 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

larly  the  red  rays  of  light  in  order  to  employ  their 
energy  in  the  difficult  chemical  operation  of  decompos- 
ing carbon  dioxide  and  water  in  connection  with  the 
process  of  assimilation.  As  a  matter  of  habit  and 
custom  we  have  come  to  think  of  the  latter  type  of 
knowledge  as  scientific,  and  of  the  former  as  un- 
scientific. 

Now  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  facts  of  the 
street-man's  knowledge ;  we  no  more  question  the 
genuineness,  the  reality  of  the  odd  fact  that  he  picks 
up  in  one  thoroughfare  than  that  of  the  old  button 
which  he  picks  up  in  the  next.  And  yet  his  knowledge 
differs  from  that  of  the  man  of  science.  In  what 
respect  ?  It  is  in  general  a  knowledge  of  isolated 
unconnected  facts :  the  knowledge  of  the  trained 
scientific  mind,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  knowledge  of 
facts  and  their  relationships.  The  two  vary  as  the 
heterogeneous  contents  of  a  schoolboy's  pocket  differ 
from  the  ticketed  objects  in  the  glass-covered  case  of, 
say,  a  geological  museum.  The  bit  of  string,  the 
pocket-knife  with  one  blade  broken,  the  dead  mouse, 
the  half-chewed  apple,  the  glass  eye  gouged  out  of  his 
sister's  doll, — there  is  no  bond  of  connection  between 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ordered  series  of  fossils 
in  the  museum,  arranged  to  exhibit  their  relations  and 
interrelations,  systematically  express  the  results  of  years 
of  laborious  investigation. 

The  foundation  of  all  scientific  knowledge  is  facts — 
facts  physical  or  mental,  facts  culled  by  external 
observation  or  internal  observation  —  everything,  in 
short,  that  has  the  power  of  being  revealed  to  con- 
sciousness. Facts  are  the  premises  of  knowledge : 
according  to  their  importance  they  are  the  bedrock 
upon  which,  or  the  bricks  out  of  which,  the  super- 
structure— the  Temple  of  Knowledge — is  built.      As 

12 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

such,  previous  to  their  employment,  they  must  be 
critically  inspected,  and  if,  as  the  result  of  this 
inspection,  their  nature  and  limits  cannot  be  deter- 
mined, if  they  cannot  be  separated  from  all  other  facts 
so  as  to  stand  out  clear  and  defined,  the  man  of 
science  will  refuse  to  use  them.  Further,  the  man  of 
science  will  not  make  use  of  facts  that  are  incapable 
of  verification  or  test.  A  series  of  individual  experi- 
ences that  are  out  of  all  relation  to  anything  that  he 
or  his  fellows  have  known, — which  he  cannot  therefore 
classify  or  collate, — will  not  receive  a  place  in  the 
construction  of  his  science.  He  may,  so  to  speak, 
keep  such  experiences  and  facts  in  storage,  waiting 
until  some  others  like  to  them  are  chronicled,  so  as 
to  be  available  for  comparison,  but,  in  general,  a  set 
of  experiences  that  are  insusceptible  to  repetition  by 
another  would  constitute  no  part  of  a  science.  On 
the  other  hand,  such  uniqueness  would  not  necessarily 
in  itself  involve  them  in  discredit. 

Finally,  these  ascertained,  verified,  classified  facts 
must  be  wrought  into  a  system.  Nothing  less  than 
this  can  transform  unscientific  knowledge  into  scientific 
knowledge.  Scientific  knowledge  is  systematized 
knowledge  in  which  the  personal  equation  has  been 
eliminated.  The  slow  accumulation  of  data,  the  year- 
long studies  of  the  specialist,  the  reiterated  experiments 
of  the  patient  researcher  are  all  conducted  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  eventually  lead  to  the  discovery  of  law. 
To  the  true  man  of  science  this  ultimate  ideal,  this 
impulse  towards  unity,  means  just  as  much  as  the 
rigorous  verification  of  his  facts.  The  difference 
accordingly  between  knowledge  scientific  and  un- 
scientific is  not  so  much  a  question  of  reality  as  of 
method.  The  man  in  the  street  picks  up  his  facts, 
like  everything  else,  just  as  he  finds  them,  and  takes 

13 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATIOiN  OF  NATURE 

them  to  be  what  they  at  first  appear  to  be.  The 
man  of  science  subjects  his  facts  to  critical  examina- 
tion and  logically  works  them  into  a  system.  Science 
may  therefore  be  defined  as  ordered,  tested,  organised 
knowledge. 

Further,  it  is  no  just  conception  of  science  which 
claims  that  it  shall  be  free  from  error  or  complete  in 
itself.  A  scientific  investigation,  at  least  in  its  initial 
stages,  is  like  groping  in  the  dark,  and  the  scientific 
inquirer  claims  the  right  to  feel  about  in  every 
direction,  even  if  this  involves  seeming  retrogression, 
and  to  describe  at  any  moment  what  he  finds,  nor  be 
challenged,  as  if  for  some  moral  delinquency,  should 
both  his  direction  and  results  turn  out  later  to  be 
wrong :  for  his  errors  of  fact  and  of  assumption  some- 
times prove  to  be  his  best  incentives  to  success,  and 
the  way  round  is  often  the  straightest  way  in  the  end. 
Thus,  Oersted's  discovery  of  electro-magnetism  in 
1820  was  the  result  of  his  falsely  conceived  theory 
as  to  the  effect  of  a  heated  wire  upon  a  magnet,  and 
the  youngest  mathematical  student  adds  and  multiplies 
infinities,  and  works  with  minus  quantities,  their 
imaginary  square  roots  and  other  useful  arithmetical 
impossibilities.^  Were  perfection  an  essential  attribute 
of  science  then  should  we  have  no  science,  nor, 
indeed,  for  that  matter,  anything  at  all.  Suppose  that 
the  man  of  science  had  all  the  facts  at  his  command — 
which  he  never  has — suppose,  in    addition,  that  they 

'  v  -  jc  is  an  arithmetical  impossibility  because  there  is  no  quantity 
which,  multiplied  by  itself,  will  give  a  minus  product.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  has  a  relation  with  reality,  because  it  can  be  used  as  if  it  were  a  real 
quantity,  and  "all  the  laws  and  relations  relating  to  real  quantities 
can  be  applied  to  it"  (St.  G.  Mivart,  The  Gi'oundwork  of  Science,  p.  92). 
The  mathematician,  that  is,  formulates,  previous  to  the  employment  of 
such  symbols,  a  system  in  which  they  shall  play  a  part,  and  attaches  a 
specific  value  to  them. 

14 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

were  divinely  imparted,  yet  would  there  be  no  in- 
fallible way  of  recording  them,  nor  guarantee  that  they 
had  been  correctly  interpreted.-^  Paul's  saying  covers 
the  whole  realm  of  experience, — "  Now  we  see  through 
a  glass  darkly."  Absolute  knowledge  science  has 
never  professed  :  nor  knowledge  of  "  things  in  them- 
selves,"— that  is  left  to  the  philosophers.  Her  know- 
ledgeis  a  knowledge  of  relations, — relations,  e.g.  of 
co-existence,  succession,  likeness  and  difference  between 
things.  The  greater  the  number  of  such  relations, 
the  more  detailed  and  the  more  general  such  know- 
ledge,— in  this  consists  the  growth  of  science.  The 
unrelated  thing,  the  unrelated  fact,  is  useless :  it  is 
useful  only  in  virtue  of  its  relation  to  other  things. 
The  interpretation  of  the  world  is  simply  the  finding 
and  understanding  of  all  the  relations  that  obtain 
amongst  its  actual  partial  expressions.  The  increase 
of  knowledge  is  not  so  much  due  to  any  new  sense- 
perception  or  any  particular  verification  from  experi- 
ence, as  to  a  new  consistency  with  an  already  complex 
system,  which  in  turn  was  itself  built  up  out  of  many 
preceding  alterations  of  inference  from  perception. 
It  is  important  to  realise  that  the  facts  of  science  are 
for  the  most  part  "  relations  " :  the  laws  of  science  are 
statements  of  relations  found  to  hold  ordinarily  under 
definite  conditions.  This  necessarily  gives  to  Science 
an  abstract  character,  and  inasmuch  as  these  relations 
are  infinite,  Science  partakes  of  the  character  of  an 
endless  induction.  The  same  considerations  hold  also 
with  regard  to  mental  facts,  those  most  certain,  if  also 
most  variable  of  all  facts.  Their  inclusion  is  de- 
manded, for  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  limit  Science 
to  objective  data  only.  Pure  objectivism  may  be 
permissible  as  a  scientific  ideal,  but  it  is  unrealisable 

^  Cf.  F.  S.  Hoffman,  The  Sphere  of  Science^  p.  13. 
15 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

in  practice,  for  however  carefully  we  may  be  on  the 
watch,  subjectivism  creeps  into  our  data.  In  certain 
branches  of  science  the  subjective  element  is  most 
important  and  demands  recognition  in  any  full  account 
of  the  phenomenon  in  question,  and,  in  any  case, 
subject  and  object  are  united  in  reality  when  it  comes 
to  intellectual  contemplation  of  the  object. 

Again,  our  information  with  regard  to  the  external 
world  is  supplied  to  us  by  our  senses,  whose  instru- 
ments are  of  very  limited  capacity.  When  we 
consider  the  range  and  power  of  those  senses  we 
become  intensely  aware  of  the  limitations  of  human 
scientific  endeavour.  Sometimes  the  fact  of  this 
limitation  is  unwisely  emphasised  in  prejudice  of 
scientific  knowledge,  as  (falsely)  opposed  to  religious 
knowledge.  These  limitations  of  science  are,  however, 
the  limitations  of  humanity:  they  are  indeed  the 
limitations  of  natural  science,  but  in  the  same  degree  of 
psychology,  or  of  theology.  Science  is  not  alone  in 
suffering  from  the  inherent  imperfections  of  human  power. 

Scientific  knowledge,  then,  is  human  knowledge 
acquired  by  what  are  usually  termed  the  five  external 
senses — in  some  instances  reduced  to  two,^ — within 
the  span  of  threescore  years  and  ten.  Further,  it  is 
a  commonplace  of  comparative  physiology  that  many 
creatures  from  insects  to  mammals  excel  us  in  certain 
degrees  of  power  of  sense-observation.  No  human 
eye  has  the  condor's  farness  of  vision :  in  man  the 
sense  of  smell  is  almost  undeveloped  compared  with 
that  of  a  bloodhound,  whose  whole  recollection  of  a 
happy  day  is  in  terms  of  smells.  Lord  Avebury 
showed  that  ants  respond  to  the  ultra-violet  rays  of 
the  spectrum  which  escape  our  direct  vision  :  that  is 
to  say,  they  possibly  see  more  colours  than  we  do,  and 

1  e.g.  Helen  Keller,  the  blind  deaf-mute  :   The  Story  of  My  Life,  1903. 

16 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

different  ones.  Indeed,  some  naturalists  concede  a 
sixth  sense  to  insects,  while  others  believe  that 
reptiles  have  a  sense  of  water,  and  fish  a  pressure 
sense,  since  either  deficient  or  excessive  pressure  is 
dangerous  to  them.^  Most  of  our  observations  of 
Nature  are  made  through  the  eye,  yet  all  objects  that 
vibrate  less  than  four  hundred  billion  times  per  second,  or 
more  than  seven  hundred  and  fifty  billion  times  a  second, 
are  absolutely  invisible  to  us.  The  visible  spectrum 
occupies  only  ^Vth  of  the  known  range  of  ethereal 
vibrations.  Further,  we  can  see  pulsations  of  inter- 
mittent flashes  at  the  rate  of  six  in  a  second  :  beyond 
that  number  they  give  us  the  sensation  of  a  con- 
tinuous light.  It  is  notorious  how  the  reports  of  the 
eye  differ  with  its  distance  from  the  object  regarded  : 
its  powers  of  accommodation  are  slight.  We  alter  its 
relation  to  the  objects  that  we  seek  to  study  by 
microscope  and  telescope.  In  no  case  does  it  furnish 
us  with  an  absolutely  exact  account.  The  informa- 
tion is  merely  relative  and  the  correction  is  made  by 
that  which  uses  the  imperfect  instrument,  our  Reason. 
One  might  even  say  that  the  faculty  of  sight  in  man  is 
not  imperfect ;   it  is  only  the  instrument  that  fails. 

Again,  although,  on  the  whole,  the  ear  is  more  dis- 
criminating than  the  eye,  we  can  only  hear  sounds 
within  a  definite  range  of  vibration  to  the  second, 
beginning  at  about  thirty- three  and  ceasing  over 
thirty  thousand.  Beats  up  to  fifteen  in  the  second 
can  be  distinctly  heard  ;  beyond  that  they  blend  into 
a  continuous  sound.  We  hear  roughly  over  a  range 
of  eleven  octaves,  and  yet  not  everyone  can  pick  out 
the  shrill  squeaking  of  the  bat :  physicists   assure    us 

^  This  is  not  merely  a  modification  of  a  sense  of  touch  :  for  associated 
with  the  lateral  line — beneath  it — is  a  longitudinal   canal  provided  with 
peculiar  bodies  which  have  all  the  appearance  of  sense  organs. 
B  17 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

that  there  must  be  thousands  of  octaves  beyond  the 
eleven.  Even  the  loss  of  definite  mobility  in  the 
external  ear  hampers  man  in  his  determination  of 
direction.  Finally,  with  regard  to  touch,  unique 
amongst  the  senses  in  that  it  can  take  the  place  of 
some  of  its  allies,  as,  e.g.,  sight  and  hearing  in  the  case 
of  Helen  Keller,  and  supreme  in  its  assistance  to  man 
as  a  creator,  as  all  handicrafts  testify,  we  are  aware 
how  easily  it  may  be  deceived,  particularly  if  tested 
alone,  e.g.  without  the  assistance  of  sight. 

Indeed  in  the  ultimate  analysis,  all  our  sense 
impressions  are  found  to  be  but  perceptions  of  mole- 
cular motion.  Touch,  hearing,  and  sight  are  instruments 
by  means  of  which  the  living  body  becomes  aware  of 
different  rates  of  motion.  How  fundamentally  akin 
in  operation  these  different  instruments  are  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  illustration :  "In  a 
darkened  room,  where  a  steel  disc  quivers  ten  to 
twenty  times  a  second,  the  finger  is  sensible  of  a 
vibration  ;  if  it  moves  sixty-four  to  thirty-two  thousand 
times,  the  ear  hears  a  note  more  and  more  high- 
pitched  ;  if  it  vibrates  still  faster,  the  finger  feels 
warmth  and  next  heat;  after  four  hundred  and  fifty 
billion  vibrations  per  second,  the  eye  beholds  a  reddish 
glimmer,  growing  lighter  with  every  acceleration  of 
the  motion  of  the  molecules,  and  terminating  in  a 
white  incandescence  comprehensive  of  all  colours 
whatsoever.  We  may  accordingly  say  that  the  ear 
sees  the  sound  and  the  eye  hears  the  light,  and  it  is  a 
conceivable  possibility  that  in  other  beings  than  our- 
selves a  single  organ  might  be  able  to  perceive  the 
foregoing  molecular  motions  successively  as  a  mere 
intensification  of  the  same  sensation,  or  as  a  kind  of 
modulation    of   shades    of    a    single    colour."  ^       The 

*  Prof.  F.  Bettex,  Modern  Science  and  Christianity^  p.  74. 
18 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

illustration  seems  to  involve  change  in  the  character  of 
the  media  of  vibration  as  the  passage  is  made  from 
sound  to  sight,  yet  air  is  ultimately  explicable  in  terms 
of  ethereal  motion :  the  real  discrepancy  is  between 
the  ethereal  vibrations  and  the  sensations  produced  in 
the  brain.  It  further  implies  change  in  the  character 
of  the  vibrations  as  these  pass  from  vibrations  of  the 
mass  to  motions  of  its  constituent  molecules.  Yet  it 
may  be  taken  to  show  very  clearly  the  division  of 
labour  that  has  been  achieved  amongst  the  senses. 
Each  of  them  covers  a  certain  limited  stretch  on  the 
vibration  scale,  but  between  them  all,  it  is  only  a  very 
small  portion  of  that  range  that  is  so  covered. 

Consider  then  that  on  our  planet  there  are  number- 
less objects  with  which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  come 
into  relation  simply  because  of  our  physical  constitu- 
tion, and  that  of  those  objects  of  which  we  are  aware 
it  is  only  with  some  few  aspects  that  we  can  become 
acquainted.  This  conception  of  a  world  beyond  our 
senses  at  once  supplies  us  with  an  area  of  momentous 
possibilities.  We  lack  entirely  a  sense  for  electricity, 
being  unable  to  distinguish  between  positive  and 
negative  electricity ;  were  we  so  endowed,  a  new 
world  would  dawn  on  us  and  Science.  Think  of  the 
world  without  the  sense  of  smell, — how  completely 
we  shoula  have  been  lacking  in  suspicion  of  the  variety 
of  flavours  and  perfumes.  Of  these  sense-limitations 
man  is  keenly  aware.  Other  animals  are  similarly 
endowed,  some  better  and  some  worse,  yet  there  is 
no  sense-discontent  within  their  lives.  Man  alone  is 
aware  of  a  failure  of  correspondence  between  his 
faculties  and  the  bodily  instruments  with  which  they 
are  equipped.  These  defects  he  seeks  to  remedy  and 
thus  enlarge  the  exercise-yard  of  the  spirit  within : 
nevertheless  it  is  still  confined  within  the  prison  of  the 

19 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

human  frame.  Small  wonder  that  it  should  recon- 
struct for  itself  in  imagination  some  other  sphere  of 
existence  where,  with  instrument  worthy  of  faculty, 
things  would  be  seen  and  heard  and  known  as  they 
really  are,  without  the  distortions  involved  in  space 
and  time.  Paul  speaks  of  what  "  eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  nor  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
to  conceive,"  ^  as  prepared  for  them  that  love  God. 
But  this  involves  a  corresponding  preparation  in  those 
who  would  receive  the  revelation,  and  we  may  dimly 
perceive  how  great  must  be  the  change  before  an 
individual  attains  that  perfect  comprehension  of 
Ultimate  Reality  and  correspondence  with  it,  in  which 
the  joys  of  a  future  state  must  so  largely  consist 

It  would  therefore  seem  as  if  that  particular  sense 
construction  of  the  world  that  is  ours  is  relative  to  the 
capabilities  of  our  senses.^  We  may  suppose  that  to 
beings  with  acuter  senses  reality  would  appear  other- 
wise, would  be  more  completely  known :  even  the 
so-called  properties  of  matter  might  wear  another 
guise.  An  additional  sense  might  give  us  a  very 
curiously  expanded  conception  of  the  world.  That 
particular  conception  which  we  have  attained  is  suited 
to  our  abilities  to  comprehend — in  fact,  it  is  the  direct 
result  of  them.  Further,  that  conception  has  evolved 
throughout  the  ages.  There  is  a  continuous  unfolding 
of  reality  to  the  human  mind,  and  it  becomes  in- 
creasingly realised  as  spiritual  even  on  the  physical 
side.  Such  a  view  involves  no  Kantian  dichotomy  of 
reality ;  the  real  and  the  ideal  are  but  different  aspects 
of  one  and  the  same  thing.  From  the  divine  view- 
point our  helpless  contrasts  of  spirit  and  matter,  of 
natural    and    supernatural    must    be    strangely    non- 

^  I  Cor.  xi.  9. 

^Cf.  J.  H.  Newman's  Oxford  Universi/y  Sermons,  p.  347. 

20 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

existent  They  may  testify  to  the  incompleteness  of 
our  conceptions ;  possibly  they  are  relative  merely  to 
the  particular  stage  of  development.  Certainly  they 
can  never  establish  that  these  conceptions  are  mere 
delusions. 

Subject  to  such  limitations,  science  cannot  and  does 
not  deal  with  absolute  certainties  :  at  best  she  replaces 
the  more  uncertain  by  the  less  uncertain.  Such  has 
been  her  mission  throughout  the  ages.  She  is  always 
provisional ;  she  can  never  be  final.  Indeed,  Boutroux 
goes  as  far  as  to  call  science  "  the  hypothesis  of  con- 
stant relations  between  phenomena."  ^  The  sphere  of 
certainty  can  only  embrace  those  ultimate  self- 
evidencing  intuitive  intellectual  perceptions  and  allied 
principles  of  reasoning  without  whose  assistance  the 
quest  for  knowledge  or  the  demonstration  of  irra- 
tionality in  things  are  alike  vain.  All  else,  all  other 
data  and  all  generalisations  from  such  data,  lie  within 
the  sphere  of  the  probable.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to 
show  that  all  the  generalisations  of  physical  science  are 
probable  only :  ^  the  same  is  true,  though  not  so 
obviously,  of  her  facts.  And  yet  every  statement  that 
the  man  of  science  makes  concerning  some  object 
that  is  external  to  him  is  an  induction,  and  as  such 
can  only  be  probable,  except  on  the  basis  of  his  mind 
being  infinite  and  his  judgment  infallible,  and  so 
capable  of  perfect  knowledge.  An  astronomer  observes 
a  star  through  his  telescope.  He  is  certain  that  he 
experiences  a  sensation  of  sight.  He  is  likewise  certain 
that  he,  experiencing  that  sensation,  exists,  and  that 
there  is  a  cause  for  the  sensation.  From  all  the  data 
that  he  can  gather  he  infers  that  the  star  is  the 
cause  of  the  sensation,  but  strictly  he  can  never  know 

^  E.  Boutroux,  Science  and  Religion  in  Contemporary  Philosophy^  p.  244. 
^Cf.  W.  S.  Jevons,  The  Principles  of  Science^  chap.  x. 

21 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

with  absolute  certainty  that  his  solution  is  correct. 
Aided  in  every  possible  way,  his  knowledge  would  still 
remain  probable,  highly  probable  if  you  will,  for  the 
degree  of  confidence  will  naturally  vary  with  the  degree 
of  probability,  but  not  strictly  certain.  Even  in  the 
exceptionally  clear  science  of  mathematics  the  old- 
time  claim  of  absolute  truth  for  its  propositions  is 
gradually  giving  way  to  an  unassailable  but  infinitely 
more  modest  claim  of  consistency.  No  mathematician 
in  the  world  knows  whether  the  sum  of  the  angles  of 
a  triangle  is  equal  to  two  right  angles  or  not.  The 
statement  is  true  in  the  case  of  the  Euclidean  system 
of  postulates  and  deductions.  But  that  is  not  the 
only  system,  and  others  just  as  consistent  are  con- 
ceivable in  which  the  sum  of  the  angles  is  greater  or 
less  than  the  Euclidean  figure.  Absolutely  certain 
knowledge  is  no  product  of  inference :  in  origin  it  is 
direct,  intuitive.  The  data  of  natural  science  lack 
these  characters ;  they  are  always  derived,  indirect, 
inferential. 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  added  that  the  probability  of 
things  lies  not  in  Nature  but  in  our  minds.  The 
degree  of  probability  is  an  index  of  the  degree  of 
knowledge.  Nature,  we  assume — otherwise  all  motive 
for  scientific  study  would  be  gone — is  a  rational  pro- 
cess :  whatever  happens  takes  place  in  accordance  with 
principle  and  order.  There  is  nothing  capricious  in 
Nature,  nothing  uncertain  about  her  activities  in  them- 
selves, but  there  is  a  marked  shortcoming  in  our  under- 
standing of  these  activities.  That  understanding  takes 
the  form  of  those  statements  of  relations  between  facts, 
commonly  known  as  "  laws  of  nature  " ;  but  a  law  to 
be  complete  would  need  to  cover  every  relation  and 
every  fact :  yet  every  relation  we  do  not  and  cannot 
know,  still  less    every  fact.      Accordingly  such  state- 

22 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

ments  (laws)  are  probable  only.  The  uniform  denial 
of  the  probability  of  knowledge  could  only  follow  a 
claim  to  omniscience  and  therefore  to  infallibility. 
Knowledge  is  a  considered  resum^  of  higher-grade 
probability. 

To  speak  about  our  knowledge  of  physical  science, 
then,  is  really  to  state  our  mental  condition  with 
regard  to  it,  and  this,  like  every  human  activity, 
ultimately  rests  on  the  theory  of  probability.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  our  lives  in  every  aspect  are  one  long 
conscious  and  unconscious  peradventure.  We  eat  food 
on  the  probability  that  it  will  nourish  us ;  we  take  the 
car  in  the  probability  that  it  will  carry  us  to  our 
destination  ;  we  visit  our  physician  on  the  probability 
that  he  can  aid  us ;  and  we  arrange  for  to-morrow's 
work,  because  with  some  things  if  not  with  someone 
we  have  learned  to  associate  continuity. 

It  will  follow  in  every  department  of  learning, 
that  it  is  never  necessary — since,  in  fact,  it  is  never 
possible — to  do  more  for  any  proposition  than  to  show 
that  the  balance  of  probabilities  is  in  its  favour.^  The 
final  claim  of  any  fact,  of  any  doctrine,  to  recognition 
is  its  reasonableness,  and  this  we  establish  by  carefully 
weighing  the  statements  made  about  it,  and  accepting 
or  neglecting  them  according  as  the  balance  of  pro- 
babilities is  for  or  against  them.  When  we  have  done 
so,  we  are  perfectly  justified  in  adopting  that  proposi- 
tion as  a  doctrine  of  science  or  a  rule  of  conduct.  It 
is  only  in  proportion  as  we  thoroughly  "  test  all  things  " 
that  we  develop  the  instinct  to  appreciate  and  the 
power  to  "  hold  fast  that  which  is  good."  And  if  at 
times  we  are  apt  to  be  oppressed  with  the  feeling  of 
uncertainty  in  the  round  of  human  existence,  we  shall 
be  helped  in  holding  on  our  way  more  steadily  when 

^  Cf.  Hoffman,  op.  cit.  p.  30. 
23 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

we  clearly  grasp  the  fact  that  in  this  universe  in  which 
we  find  ourselves,  "  only  he  who  is  willing  to  walk  by 
faith  can  walk  at  all."  ^ 

It  is  important,  however,  to  note  that  in  addition  to 
these  natural  limitations,  science  often  imposes  upon 
herself  artificial  limitations,  and  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  scientific  knowledge  has  value  only  in  proportion 
to  these  self-imposed  limitations.  To  honour  science 
is  to  respect  her  self-imposed  limitations.  To  decry 
her  "  narrow  outlook  "  is  to  fail  in  appreciation  of  her 
value.  For  she  can  only  make  progress  in  so  far  as 
she  definitely  confines  herself  within  certain  clearly 
marked  limits  and  rigorously  excludes  everything  else. 
The  chemistry  of  sugar  has  in  itself  no  direct  relation 
to  diabetes  or  other  problems  of  animal  or  vegetable 
pathology  and  physiology;  it  simply  analyses  the 
substance  sugar  and  considers  the  relations  and  pro- 
portions of  its  elemental  constituents.  The  value  of 
a  science  is  in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  it 
strictly  limits  itself  to  the  special  set  of  characters  it 
proposes  to  investigate.  And  the  same  holds  true  of 
Science  in  general.  Much  of  the  confusion  that  has 
from  time  to  time  arisen  in  consideration  of  the  relations 
of  scientific  and  religious  thought  is  due  to  the  fact 
that,  after  having  made  certain  limitations  in  order  to 
reach  certain  conclusions  scientifically,  men  have  pro- 
ceeded to  apply  these  conclusions  far  beyond  the 
limits  that  were  imposed  in  order  to  reach  them. 

The  chief  danger,  however,  in  all  scientific  procedure 
lies  in  the  possibility  that  after  having  studied  a  series 
of  phenomena  under  his  self-imposed  limitations  the 
man  of  science  is  sometimes  tempted  to  imagine  that 
his  account  thus  acquired  is  the  whole  story,  and  so 
to  remain  oblivious  to  other  significances    and    inter- 

^  W.  N.  Rice,  Christian  Faith  in  an  Age  of  Science^  p.  409. 
24 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

pretations  which  are,  at  any  rate,  just  as  valid,  and 
which  must  enter  into  any  complete  account  of  a 
phenomenon.  Of  the  autumn  colouring  of  leaves,  the 
botanist  will  give  a  wonderful  account  in  chemical  and 
physical  terms — a  series  of  changes  induced  initially 
by  a  difference  in  temperature  and  the  gradual  break- 
down of  certain  cellular  constituents  of  the  leaves. 
But  are  we  therefore  entirely  to  disregard  the  aesthetic 
appeal  ?  Not  so,  if  the  objectivity  of  any  phenomenon 
includes  its  social  relations  as  well.  Darwin  explained 
in  a  remarkable  way  the  coloration  of  plants  and 
animals  on  the  principle  of  utility ;  but  of  what 
advantage  to  the  tree  are  these  flaming  reds  and 
gaudy  yellows  ?  "  Nature,"  says  Mozley  in  his  Uni- 
versity Sermon  with  that  title,^  "  in  the  very  act  of 
labouring  as  a  machine,"  in  virtue  of  the  same  laws, 
"  sleeps  as  a  picture  " ;  and  the  one  aspect  is  as  true 
as  the  other.  The  internal  changes  in  the  variegated 
foliage  of  autumn  have  significance  both  for  the  tree 
and  for  the  man  of  science  in  his  endeavours  to  express 
their  life-history  in  terms  of  physics  and  of  chemistry ; 
but  correlated  with  these  are  external  changes  which 
make  appeal  to  another  aspect  of  man's  being  and 
which  must  be  included  in  any  complete  account  of 
the  forest.  In  considerations  such  as  these  we  become 
aware  of  the  incompleteness  of  a  purely  mechanical 
interpretation  so  far  as  it  professes  to  deal  with  the 
total  significance  of  phenomena. 

It  is  perhaps  to-day  more  than  at  any  other  time 
peculiarly  important  to  have  a  clear  conception  of 
what  it  just  is  that  science  can  do,  what  exactly  is 
the  worth  of  scientific  knowledge.  The  appeal  of 
science  is  to  experience,  which  at  once  limits  her 
accounts  in  a  very  real  way.      Of  origins  she  can  give 

1  P.  123. 
25 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

no  experiential  account:  it  is  questionable  if  the 
category  of  ends  comes  naturally  within  her  sweep  as 
pure  description,  and  to  final  ends  she  can  bear  no 
witness.  The  highest  ideals  for  which  men  strive  are 
not  those  that  we  win  from  science,  although  in 
matters  like  eugenics  she  may  give  substance  to  them ; 
science  may  give  us  an  ideal  of  accuracy,  but  not  yet 
of  duty.  The  strictly  scientific  fact — i.e.  one  which 
can  be  expressed  in  terms  of  measurement  or  in  some 
physical  aspect  only — is  only  a  part  of  reality.  There 
are  facts  and  facts,  and  justice  or  goodness  or  the 
consciousness  of  them  are  facts  of  which  an  account 
must  enter  into  our  description  of  reality;  and  they 
are  more  likely  to  influence  the  scientific  fact  than 
vice  versa.  The  strictly  scientific  aspect  is  the  objec- 
tive, that  which  can  be  reduced  to  figures  and  which 
has  a  relative  stateableness.  It  is  an  aspect,  further, 
the  account  of  which,  studied  and  accurate  though  it 
be,  covers  no  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  a  process 
that  has  synchronised  with  time  itself;  it  has  broken 
in,  so  to  speak,  at  a  certain  stage,  late  in  the  day. 
As  if  some  pageant  had  been  in  progress  since  the 
dawn  of  creation,  and  the  descriptive  reporter  had 
arrived  late  on  the  scene.  He  may  guess  what  has 
preceded  by  certain  features  in  what  remains ;  he  may 
surmise  that  there  is  a  denouement^  but  strictly,  qua 
man  of  science,  he  does  not  know. 

Again,  this  process  is  so  involved  and  intricate  that 
we  can  be  perfectly  certain  that  at  no  single  moment 
of  it  do  we  get  an  accurate  and  full  description.  It 
is  proposed  to  find  out  how  any  particular  portion  of 
the  pageant  is  mechanised,  but  there  are  so  many 
factors  involved  that  the  problem  in  itself  seems 
insoluble.  Accordingly,  it  is  stripped  as  far  as  possible 
of  certain  features ;  it  is  reduced  and  simplified,  and 

26 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

then  a  statement  is  offered.  But  this  statement 
represents  only  an  aspect — indeed  only  an  aspect  of 
an  aspect ;  never  is  there  any  direct  touch  with 
reality. 

The  farther  science  proceeds  in  her  ideal,  abstract 
representation  of  phenomena,  the  farther  she  gets  from 
reality,  which  is  infinitely  more  complicated  than  the 
network  of  laws  that  comprise  that  representation.  The 
relations  of  any  single  fact  are  infinite,  and  science  is 
closest  to  reality  when  treating  of  the  relations  of 
that  single  fact.  At  the  same  time  in  proportion  as 
she  attempts  to  form  a  picture  of  the  infinite  relations 
of  infinite  facts  is  her  grip  upon  any  particular  bit  of 
reality  rendered  less  effective.  At  the  best  she  offers, 
in  a  now  familiar  simile,^  a  linear  succession  of  juxta- 
posed cinematographic  pictures  which,  as  so  many 
external  snapshots,  fail  in  their  expression  of  that 
which  from  the  inside  takes  the  form  of  a  continuous 
developmental  process.  As  Professor  L.  T.  More  puts 
it,^  "  Science,  in  other  words,  like  philosophy,  has  no 
ontological  value." 

Such  conclusions  are  likewise  not  wholly  unconnected 
with  those  limitations  of  the  senses  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made.  What  we  perceive,  to  take  but 
one  example,  are  not  realities.  We  never  see  things 
as  they  are,  but  as  they  were.  All  sight  depends 
on  the  definite  rate  at  which  light  travels.  With 
very  near  objects,  the  difference  is  very  minute,  but 
still  calculable.  The  moon  is  240,000  miles  away: 
we  cannot  therefore  see  her  as  she  is,  but  as  she  was 
one  and  a  quarter  seconds  before.  Some  of  the  fixed 
stars  we  perceive  by  light  rays  that  left  them  about 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ.      Again,  the  study  of 

*  H.  Bergson,  Creative  Evolution,  p.  322. 
2  The  Hibbert  Journal,  vol.  vii.  p.  881. 
27 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

physical  science — and  increasingly  of  biological  science 
— is  statistical :  it  deals  with  averages.  Therefore  the 
scientific  account  of  any  phenomenon  is  in  the  last 
extreme  but  a  skiagraph,  a  more  or  less  correct  but 
shadowy  outline  of  some  portion  or  manifestation  of 
that  Ultimate  Reality,  which  we  can  never  hope  to 
fathom  completely.  Reality  may  be  something  that 
obeys  the  scientist's  abstract  network  of  law  at  a 
certain  point  and  to  a  certain  extent,  and  yet  is 
something  greater  than  law,  greater  than  all  his  ex- 
planations of  it.  But  to  have  learned  this  is  to  realise 
that  there  is  a  point  at  which  his  methods  break  down, 
that  it  is  just  possible  that  truth  may  have  been 
revealed  in  more  ways  than  one,  that  the  achievement 
of  knowledge  implies  moral  as  well  as  intellectual 
qualities,  that  after  all  it  is  not  to  the  clear-sighted 
nor  to  those  of  a  far  vision  that  it  is  given  to  behold 
Ultimate  Reality — to  see  God — but  to  the  pure  in 
heart.  Whence  arises  that  spirit  of  humility  without 
which  it  is  impossible  that  any  man,  learned  or  un- 
learned, may  enter  that  Kingdom  of  Truth  which 
has  as  capital  the  City  of  God. 

Such  being  the  case,  the  hoary  antithesis  between 
Science,  i.e.  Knowledge,  and  Faith  proves  not  to  be  so 
derogatory  to  the  latter  as  it  was  once  supposed  to  be, 
and  with  the  recognition  of  this  fact  disappears  much 
of  the  occasion  of  these  old-time  conflicts  between 
Science  (representing,  as  was  supposed,  unalloyed 
certainty)  and  the  Faith  (as  representing  a  distinctive 
form  of  doctrine  with  a  more  or  less  nebulous  basis  of 
fact).  In  any  case,  the  so-called  warfare  between 
Science  and  Religion  was  never  a  clash  of  facts, 
although  it  often  was  a  tourney  between  definitions. 
But  what  we  may  have — what,  in  fact,  we  do  have — is 
a  scheme  of,  e.g.^  chemical  knowledge,  and  a  scheme  of 

28 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

religious  knowledge,  in  both  of  which  faith  plays  an 
important  and  vitalising  part.  Chemical  knowledge 
and  religious  knowledge  are  alike  based  upon  facts  of 
experience,  but  in  the  shaping  of  that  experience  faith 
equally  plays  a  part  in  either  case.  To  the  religious 
mind  faith  is  usually  "  the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for";  to  the  scientific  mind  much  more  immediately 
it  is  in  large  measure  "  the  substance  of  actual  existing 
things." 

For  all  scientific  knowledge  is  based  on  such 
stupendous  yet  perfectly  natural  assumptions  as  the 
uniformity  of  Nature,  the  universal  validity  of  the  Law 
of  Causation,  and,  we  might  even  add,  the  objective 
existence  of  the  external  world  as  distinct  from  our 
sensory  perception  of  it — assumptions  which  Huxley 
himself  admitted  ^  could  not  be  proved  by  the  experi- 
ence we  had  of  them,  nor  indeed  by  any  amount  of 
experience.  How  then  does  he  dare  to  accept  them  ? 
*'  It  is  quite  true,"  he  says,  "  that  the  ground  of  every 
one  of  our  actions,  and  the  validity  of  all  our  reason- 
ings, rest  upon  the  great  act  of  faith  which  leads  us  to 
take  the  experience  of  the  past  as  a  safe  guide  in  our 
dealings  with  the  present  and  the  future."  ^  Science,  in 
short,  is  a  linkage  of  data  dependent  on  faith  in  this 
uniformity  hypothesis. 

So  characteristic  an  attitude,  so  basal  and  omni- 
present an  intellectual  activity  as  that  of  faith  challenges 
inquiry  as  to  its  origin.  Possibly  it  is  simply  a  reflex 
of  a  feature  of  the  race,  namely,  that  spirit  of  trusting 
adventure,  often  with  little  to  justify  it,  that  has  been 
the  mainspring  of  all  progress,  mental  and  material.^ 
It  was  a  Lamarckian  principle  that  new  needs  induced 

^  Evolution  and  Ethics^  and  other  Essays,  p.  121. 

2  Science  and  Christian  TraditioJi,  p.  243. 

3  Cf.  Prof.  J.  Ward,  The  Realm  0/  Ends,  p.  415. 

29 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

new  organs  :  it  is  a  question  whether  the  generalisation 
should  not  be  more  sweeping,  and  a  new  need  not  be 
merely  the  cause  of  every  modification,  but  of  every 
aspiration.  Had  there  been  no  mutual  reaction  in  the 
sensitive  epidermis  when  first  in  the  presence  of  light 
rays — no  incipient  "  will  "  to  see,  no  "  faith  "  to  follow 
the  gleam — the  eye  had  never  been  developed.  Had 
there  been  no  mutual  reaction  in  the  sensitivity  of  the 
human  mind  first  aware  of  the  influence  of  a  spiritual 
world,  there  had  been  no  discovery  of  God.  Faith  is  the 
giving  substance  to  things  hoped  for:  it  drives  us  into 
action.  It  represents  an  effort,  an  outpush  in  a  certain 
direction  because  of  a  felt  want.  This  self-committing 
venturesomeness,  this  launching  of  our  minds  in  a 
specific  direction,  is  the  most  fundamental  act  in  all 
human  nature.  Without  it  there  could  be  no  experi- 
ence, no  acquirement  of  knowledge,  unless  as  by  a 
recording  cognitive  automaton,  dwelling  in  passive 
sense-perception  alone.  Faith  is  the  great  necessary 
prius  of  all  endeavour :  out  of  activity  and  effort  con- 
sciousness has  arisen.  Faith  is  the  yeast  in  the  raw 
material  of  knowledge ;  it  can  be  transmuted  into 
knowledge  through  experience,  and  this  in  turn  stimu- 
lates faith.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  pure  knowledge ; 
it  is  always  an  alloy.  No  coin  is  pure  gold — it  would 
wear  away ;  pure  knowledge  would  be  unpractical. 
And  faith  can  never  die  because  of  that  subsequent 
progressive  verification  that  is  its  inalienable  accompani- 
ment, particularly  in  the  deepest  things  of  life.  It  is 
an  instinctive  attitude  of  demand  for  self-substantiation, 
that,  irrespective  of  probability,  is  maintained  towards 
whatever  for  any  reason  seems  to  have  the  possibility 
of  self-justification  and  verification. 

Faith  thus  exercised  scientifically  assuredly  gives  us 
a  conception  of  reality   that   is  as    inadequate  as  the 

30 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

conception    of   God    that    results    from    the    religious 
exercise  of  faith.     Yet  we  can  see  the  great  progress 
in  both  views  even   in   the  span  of  the  Christian  era. 
The  contention  is  that  the  faculty  exercised  is  essenti- 
ally the  same,  and  that  ultimately  it  is  exercised  upon 
the  same   object,   although   upon    different   aspects   of 
that  object,  and   in   different  degrees.      The  faith  that 
is  involved  in  all  knowledge  is  man's  nature  going  out 
towards  that  in  the  universe  which  secures  his  place  in 
it.      The  faith  of  science  and  the  faith  of  religion  are 
alike  justified  as  conveying  some  knowledge  of  Reality. 
The  greater  uniformity  in  the  results  of  scientific  faith 
compared  with  those  of  religious  faith  is  in  no  way  pre- 
judicial to  the  latter.      Even  in  the  case  of  the  former, 
where  the  determinations  are  most  subtle,  whether  in 
that  exercise  of  the  senses  or  the  mental  treatment  of 
the  results  so  won  that  go  to  form  the  pabulum    of 
faith,  the  uniformity  is  by  no  means  so  general,  and 
agreement   does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  judg- 
ment   reached    h  true,  or   rather  not   largely  relative. 
In  a  greater  degree  more  subtle,  refined,  and   sensitive 
is  that  exercise  of  the   faculty  of  faith  in   the  winning 
of  the  secret  things  of  God.      And   while  a  consensus 
can    only    establish    that    to    which    there    is    general 
consent  (and   even    this   only  problematically),  it  can 
never    suffice  to  disprove  any  particular  achievement. 
Of  any  thirteen   people  in   a  cave  probably  not   more 
than    one    will    hear  the  shrill  squeaking  of  the  bats 
which  all  can  see  or  feel  fluttering  around.      The  con- 
sensus of  the  majority  that  no  sound  is  audible  does 
not  invalidate   the  testimony  of  the  one  who  says  he 
hears    a    sound.      The    majority    are    alive    to     many 
aspects    of    the     bats,    but     there    is     one    individual 
who  can  give  a  more  complete  account  than  all  the 
others. 

31 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Yet  man  is  not  completely  man  merely  when  he 
knows,  or  consciously  exercises  that  will  to  know  so 
intimately  associated  with  the  evolution  of  faith,  which, 
fully  developed,  is  the  inspiration  of  every  form  of 
higher  activity  in  the  self-conscious  being.  In  inter- 
course with  Nature  feelings  are  aroused  which  incite 
to  further  knowledge,  and  knowledge  in  turn  plays  in 
different  ways  upon  our  feelings.  Now  any  account 
of  a  phenomenon  in  terms  of  science  will  appeal  to  our 
intellect ;  but  the  phenomenon,  even  the  account  of  it, 
may  appeal  to  one  of  these  other  aspects  of  the  human 
constitution.  And  without  the  inclusion  of  these  other 
aspects  the  account  is  incomplete.  The  scientific 
account  may  be  complete,  but  that  is  not  the  whole 
account,  and  in  certain  cases  may  be  the  least  satis- 
factory or  important  part  of  the  account,  e.g.  in  the 
case  of  a  rainbow  or  a  sunset.  From  such  instances 
it  is  not  a  far  step  to  those  other  circumstances 
and  events  that  appeal  to  and  control  the  destinies 
of  man.  There  is  no  ultimate  difference  in  kind 
between  the  appeal  of  the  radiance  of  the  rainbow 
and  of  beauty  of  character  as  it  appears  in  some 
human  form. 

It  is  but  a  further  step  to  consider  that  that  control- 
ling, moulding,  appealing  agency  may  sometimes  have 
at  the  moment  no  direct  relation  with  the  external 
world  :  it  may  exist  simply  as  an  ideal.  Yet  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  any  ideal  has  ever  entered  the 
human  mind  as  it  were  out  of  space,  e  vacuo,  unrelated 
to  anything  else  in  the  world.  Not  merely,  therefore, 
must  all  idealistic  impression  connected  with  any 
phenomenon  be  taken  into  account  before  we  can  in 
any  way  call  our  account  complete.  That  ideal  itself, 
connected  both  with  the  will  and  with  feeling — for  an 
ideal  is  that  which  commands  the  assent  of  our  will 

32 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

and  evokes  approval — is  as  much,  when  entertained, 
an  affirmation  as  any  piece  of  intellectual  knowledge. 
Our  recognition  of  an  ideal  is  an  assertion  of  its 
approval  by  us  ;  it  is  therefore  a  matter  of  knowledge 
for  us, — knowledge,  let  us  say,  about  the  conduct  of  life, 
— and  as  such  not  different  in  kind  from  any  of  those 
views  about  the  physical  world  that  pass  for  knowledge. 
And  further,  every  human  action  as  the  result  of  the 
exercise  of  will  is  likewise  just  such  a  voiceless  assertion  : 
activities,  like  things  in  general,  are  because  of  their 
significance. 

Accordingly  while  that  interpretation  of  phenomena 
as  they  are,  have  been  or  will  be,  which  corresponds 
to  the  scientific  account  of  things — the  real  as  it 
were — is  valid,  yet  it  is  not  the  whole  account,  and 
this  is  furnished  by  also  considering  the  ideal — that 
is  phenomena  as  they  exercise  influence  over  or  can 
be  influenced  by  the  human  will  or  emotions.  Indeed 
from  the  plane  of  human  life  the  latter  is  by  far  the 
most  important,  for  the  will  to  know  has  its  roots  in 
a  desire  to  master  the  world  and  make  it  approximate 
to  what  our  feelings  would  have  it  be.  Self-conscious 
life  is  a  struggle  first  to  decide  what  ought  to  be  and 
then  to  bring  that  into  effect.  In  this  sense  the  real 
ministers  to  the  ideal :  Naturalism  is  no  competitor 
with,  but  is  the  servant  of,  Idealism.  Naturalism  is 
true,  but  it  is  an  incomplete  interpretation  of  phe- 
nomena :  it  is  as  if  a  man  explained  a  picture  in 
terms  of  chemistry  and  physics  and  the  painter's 
palette. 

Of  this  incompleteness  we  find  a  hint  in  the  particular 
scientific  conceptions  themselves  which  on  thorough 
examination  are  found,  as  Boutroux  expresses  it,  "  to 
point  beyond  themselves."  ^      It  is  not  the  doubts  ex- 

^  Boutroux,  op.  cit.  p.  262. 

c  33 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

pressed  as  to  the  absolute  truth  of  the  conservation  of 
energy :  ^  it  is  that  when  we  examine  the  latter  con- 
ception itself  we  find  ourselves  driven  beyond  the 
purely  quantitative  (and  therefore  measurable)  aspects 
to  others  where  this  criterion  will  not  help.  For  these 
measurements  will  embrace  changes  in  the  physical 
nature  and  composition  of  that  which  is  the  vehicle  of 
energy, — changes,  that  is,  also  in  the  form  of  phenomena, 
and  that  form  is  something  more  than  a  mere  name 
for  a  condition  or  particular  collection  of  measure- 
ments which  apply  to  certain  aspects  only.  The 
same  holds  true  of  the  scientific  ideas  of  Life  and 
Evolution.  Science  is  continually  hinting  at  that 
region  wherein  the  religious  consciousness  finds  its 
satisfaction :  her  accounts  in  proportion  to  their  com- 
pleteness rise  in  their  dignity,  their  wonder,  their 
power. 

Between  the  conclusions  of  Science  and  of  Religion 
there  can  be  no  occasion  of  conflict.  In  their  most 
characteristic  types  they  have  little  in  common :  and 
in  that  basal  region  where  they  come  together,  disagree- 
ment is  out  of  the  question.  They  do  not  treat  of 
different  planes  of  phenomena,  nor  deal  with  absolutely 
unrelated  series  of  facts.  They  are  concerned  with  the 
same  kinds  of  facts  but  in  different  ways.  They  deal 
with  the  same  world,  but  ask  and  answer  different 
questions  concerning  it.  Science  is  concerned  with  the 
order  of  events  in  causal  association  with  similar  events  ; 
Religion  considers  events  in  their  infinite  relation  to 
the  sum  total  of  events. 

In  her  account  of  things  Science  has  still  these 
very  things  to  account  for :  in  her  use  of  mind  as  an 
instrument,  she  cannot  forget  that  without  mind  her 
existence    would    not    be    possible.     Over   and   above 

^  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Life  and  Matter^  p.  22. 

34 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  FAITH 

the  symbolical  account  of  external  reality  there  is  the 
mind  that  appreciates  it.  Phenomena  can  have  no 
extra-mental  existence  though  they  may  well  have  an 
extra-human  existence.  In  truth  Science  corresponds 
to  but  a  single  aspect  of  Being,  and  she  cannot 
maintain  that  the  part  with  which  she  interests 
herself  is  equal  to  the  whole.  In  man  there  are 
other  needs,  other  driving  necessities  than  that  im- 
perious demand  for  unity  that  instigates  his  scientific 
quest. 

Religion  has  her  great  mission,  that  of  enabling  man 
to  overcome  his  surroundings  and  himself  and  to  acquire 
that  peace  of  spiritual  content  that  will  give  him  the 
victory  over  disquieting  doubt  and  temptation  :  and  in 
all  this  Science  can  help — Science  in  so  far  as  she  is 
truth,  for  it  is  the  truth  that  sets  men  free  from  the 
prison  of  their  fears.  But  Religion  can  never  be 
Science,  and  still  less  can  Science  ever  be  Religion. 
Religion  deals  with  the  supernatural,  it  is  said  :  but 
the  supernatural  is  concerned  with  the  whole  world. 
We  talk  of  the  real  and  the  ideal,  different  aspects  of 
reality :  but  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  stand  to 
one  another  in  an  analogous  relation.  And  our  inter- 
pretation of  the  real  is  modified  and  governed  by  our 
interpretation  of  the  ideal. 

To-day  the  theologian  and  the  man  of  science  can 
meet  and  find  that  they  share  in  a  great  community 
of  belief  "  Religion,"  said  Sir  E.  Ray  Lankester  in 
a  Presidential  Address  to  the  British  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science — quoting  from  Bishop 
Creighton — "  means  the  knowledge  of  our  destiny  and 
of  the  means  of  fulfilling  it ; "  then  added,  "  We  can 
say  no  more  and  no  less  of  Science.  Men  of  Science 
seek,  in  all  reverence,  to  discover  the  Almighty,  the 
Everlasting.      They    claim    sympathy    and    friendship 

35 


1 
SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE  j 


with  those  who,  like  themselves,  have  turned  away 
from  the  more  material  struggles  of  human  life,  and 
have  set  their  hearts  and  minds  on  the  knowledge  of 
the  Eternal."  ^ 

1  Presidential  Address,  Brit.  Ass.  Report,  1906,  p.  42. 


36 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  SCIENCE  UPON 
RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

The  history  of  the  relations  of  scientific  and  religious 
thought,^  so  full  at  once  of  instruction  and  of  tragedy, 
discloses  no  period  in  which  the  influence  of  the  former 
upon  the  latter  has  been  greater  than  during  the  past 
sixty  years,  fitly  designated  the  Age  of  Science.  This 
influence  has  increasingly  manifested  itself  in  three 
distinct  ways.  It  is  seen,  directly,  in  the  modification 
of  religious  doctrine  as  the  result  of  definite  scientific 
conclusions.  Men  have  got  into  touch  with  Nature, 
have  learned  her  order  and  her  laws,  and  so  far  as 
they  have  seen  in  them  the  divine  method  of  operation, 
have  formed  more  worthy  views  of  the  World-Principle 
of  which  Nature  is  a  partial  expression.  Our  concep- 
tions concerning  man  and  "  the  Fall/'  the  relations  of 
sin  and  death,  and  God  and  the  world,  are  not  those 
of  mediaeval  times,  not  even  those  of  our  grandfathers, 
— or  ought  not  to  be.  In  each  case  a  great  deal  has 
been  definitely  added,  and  what  was  already  there  has 
been  purified  and  clarified.  The  definite  increase  and 
modification  are  due  in  great  part  to  the  advance  of 
scientific  knowledge.  Nor  has  this  advance  resulted 
in  the  disproof  of  any  essentially  religious  truth.     Facts 

^  cf.  J.  W,  Draper,  History  of  the  Conflict  between  Science  and  Religion  ; 
A.  D.  White,  Warfare  of  Science  with  Theology. 

37 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

cannot  prove  a  negative.  There  are  millions  of  stones 
in  the  world  that  show  no  spontaneous  attraction :  but 
that  does  not  invalidate  that  other  fact  that  the 
lodestone  attracts  iron. 

This  influence  of  Science  upon  religious  thought  is 
further  manifested  in  the  widespread  adoption  by 
religion  of  the  scientific  method.  The  scientific 
method  is,  briefly,  an  appeal  to  experience  and  to 
experimental  tests  on  the  one  hand,  followed  by  the 
induction  and  enumeration  of  general  laws  or  principles 
as  the  result  of  this  appeal.  The  data  are  carefully 
recorded,  verified,  worked  over  and  collated,  until  the 
personal  element  is  winnowed  out  and  the  residuum  of 
abstract  truth  is  left.  In  her  collecting  of  well-attested 
data  and  sifting  of  evidence.  Science  has  given  us  an 
ideal  of  exactness  and  has  disciplined  our  thinking. 
This  may  be  illustrated  in  various  ways. 

{a)  In  the  detailed  discussion  of  any  important  ques- 
tion, the  historical  method  is  now  always  adopted.  The 
thing  as  it  is  can  only  be  fully  understood  in  the  light 
of  its  history.  Science  has  long  known  the  value  of  the 
examination  of  life-histories,  and  theology  has  applied 
this  method  to  the  elucidation  of  her  organic  entities, 
i.e.  her  dogmas — for  if  any  of  them  are  not  living,  they 
had  better  be  discarded, — with  conspicuous  advantage. 
Or  the  investigation  may  be  more  radical.  Starting 
from  the  religious  consciousness,  we  may  strive  to 
determine  the  question  of  its  universality,  or  what  is 
more  difficult,  to  reach  the  permanent  and  unchanging 
element  in  its  witness.  Each  age  has  had  its  theology ; 
perhaps  each  individual  in  any  age  has  his.  How 
much  has  it  been  coloured  by  the  particular  ethos  and 
atmosphere  of  that  age  ?  That  it  has  been  so  tinged 
nobody  will  deny.  There  is  the  hereditary  element, 
reproduced  because  it  is  something  living,  but  there  is 

38 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

also  the  increment  due  to  the  pressure,  social  and 
intellectual,  of  the  particular  period.  Can  these  be 
successfully  disarticulated  from  the  original  growth, 
so  that  we  could,  working  backwards,  gradually  un- 
strip  the  sheathings  of  each  era,  like  the  enclosing 
leaves  of  a  bud — each  of  them  in  some  measure  alive 
— til!  we  come  to  the  vital  core  ?  The  suggestion  of 
such  investigation  implies  the  application  of  a  method 
that  is  essentially  scientific. 

Such  naturalistic     examination    is    often,    however, 
feared,  pirticularly  where  it  affects    to   give  accounts 
of  the  origin  of  distinctive  human  characters,  such  as 
mind  and  conscience,  that  are  felt  to  be  derogatory  to 
the  characters  in  question.     Yet  even  if  we  can  success- 
fully give  a  correct  naturalistic  account  of  the  rise  of 
the  distinctive  human  characters,  the  fact  remains  that 
we    are  dealiig  with    a    world    that    harboured    such 
possibilities,  ard  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  these  charicters  point  beyond  themselves,  and  are 
never  explained'^  the  fullest  account  we  may  give  of 
their  history.      Vhy,  for  example,  if  we  may  do  as  we 
like  so  long  as    ^e  grin   and  bear    the  consequences, 
should  such  an  inl'bitive  sense  ever  develop  as  that  of 
moral  obligation,  i.  it  did  not  bear  witness  to  some- 
thing   beyond    itse??       There     could    have    been    no 
inducement  to  follo\  its  beckoning  in  the  case  of  those 
who  had  the  first  experience  of  its  call  to  self-sacrifice, 
and  perhaps  death,  beause  they  could  not  have  known 
that  it  would  eventua.y  mean   life  in  greater  abund- 
ance.    They  must  havefelt  that  the  call  had  relation 
to   some  external   circumstance,  perhaps   even  to   One 
calling  :  they  must  have  c-)eyed,  penetrating  beyond  the 
challenge  "  Ye  shall  there^re  be  holy,  for  I  am  holy."  ^ 
Again,  it  is  by  the  aic  of   this  method    that    the 

1  cf.  R.  H.  Hutton,  Syndetic  Society  Papers,  p.  32. 

3 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

science  of  Comparative   Religion  has  been  developed. 
As  a  result,  we  now  see  that  all  religion,  not  excepting 
the  religion  of  revelation,  has  had   a  history,  that  that 
history  has    been  continuous,  and    that  its  successive 
forms  should  be  investigated  in  their  mutual  relations. 
We  may  learn  how  very  diverse  national  and    fibal 
sheathings  have  protected  living  cores  in  no  great  way 
dissimilar.     Thus  we  have  been  led  to  the  recogni^'ion  of 
something  useful  in  the  world-religions,  to  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  they  had  a   function   to  perform, 
and  that    they  exerted    a  wonderful    moral  influence 
over  men — positions  that  had  not  been  rea:hed  some 
fifty  years  ago,  views  that  are  the  direct  <>utcome  of 
the    evolutionary  attitude.     As  a  result  ve  are  com- 
pelled    to     realise    how    we     must     henceforth     think 
Christianity  always  in  relation  to  the  wh^le  world,  not 
merely  applying  it  practically  to  the  world's  need,  but 
also  stating  it  intellectually  in  its  adaptability  to  the 
gropings  of  many  pagan  minds,  and  a^ove  all  saving 
it     from     being     elaborated    merely    iito     a    code    of 
Western  ethics  and  ritual. 

ip)  The    scientific  method  has  likwise  resulted    in 
the  application  of  increased  powers  >f  observation  and 
analysis  in  that  sphere  where  we  ire  considering  its 
action.      This  has  involved   a    clever  appreciation    of 
what  is  implied    in  a   demonstra0n,  the  bringing  of 
cause  and  effect  into  more  marke/  relief      It  has  also 
meant  that  an  increased  number/f  factors — secondary 
causes — is  looked  for  as  the  ex/anation  of  phenomena 
in  the  religious  as  in  the  natuj^l  world.      In  one  sense 
this  is  to  recede  from  the  staiipoint  of  the   Hebrews, 
who  had   little  idea  of  secondly  causes  and   to  whom 
God  was  immediately  back^f^   all  phenomena.      "  In 
the  beginning  God  created  t/e  heavens  and  the  earth," 
and    in   their  opinion    Hf  icted    in    the   same    direct 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

manner  all  along.  This  is  essentially  the  religious 
idea.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  ours  is  the  gain  in 
knowledge  of  the  marvellous  ways  of  His  working  ; 
progressively,  Kepler-like,  we  may  sometimes  be  con- 
scious of  thinking  His  thoughts.  On  this  view, 
involved  in  the  very  possibility  of  knowledge  itself, 
Science  is  but  the  unfolding,  the  revelation  of  the 
thoughts  of  God  which  it  is  our  privilege  and  duty  to 
try  and  follow  Him  in  thinking.  It  is  scientific 
method  that  compels  us  to  read  our  knowledge  of 
nature  into  our  interpretation  of  Scripture,  in  place  of 
the  older  method  whereby  Nature  was  interpreted  by 
traditional  conceptions  of  Scripture. 

(c)  Again  the  scientific  method  is  mainly  responsible 
for  the  present-day  critical  tendencies  that  are  at 
work  in  every  department  of  knowledge.  The  con- 
clusions of  past  generations  are  questioned,  examined, 
refuted,  or  rehabilitated.  Formerly,  men  were  well 
content  to  accept  statements  and  facts,  theories  and 
solutions  on  the  strength  of  a  great  name  or  institution. 
To-day  that  is  all  changed  :  our  age  no  longer  pays 
implicit  respect  to  the  authority  of  authority.  This 
does  not  imply  a  revolution — the  abolition  of  authority. 
As  knowledge  grows  and  civilisation  advances,  man 
has  to  accept  more  and  more  upon  authority.  He 
thereby  frees  himself  from  his  own  limitations,  and  in 
such  acceptance  signifies  his  recognition  of  special 
training,  special  insight,  perhaps  even  special  com- 
munication. Such  massed  authority,  as  representing 
the  supreme  pronouncements  of  the  human  mind, 
merits  allegiance.  Yet  the  recognition  of  authority 
does  not  mean  that  the  individual  is  to  use  his  own 
reason  less.  On  the  contrary  he  must  use  it  more. 
Whatever  the  dicta  of  authority,  they  have  to  be 
justified,  and  that  can  only  be   done   at    the    bar    of 

41 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Reason, — a  Reason  that  becomes  increasingly  capable 
in  its  particular  business.  Authority  can  never  be  a 
substitute  for  the  individual  experience ;  it  should  not 
supplant  but  rather  supplement  it.  In  that  spirit 
which  considers  no  name  too  great,  no  reputation  too 
high  to  prevent  the  statement  or  hypothesis  lying 
under  its  shadow  from  being  dragged  out  into  the 
fierce  light  of  modern  expert  criticism,  we  may  see 
the  influence  of  the  scientific  method  upon  religious 
thought.  The  compulsion  of  truth  sometimes  looks 
like  sacrilege,  and  it  is  just  here  that  the  scientific 
method  is  especially  helpful  in  its  insistence  on  the 
preservation  of  an  open  and  impartial  judgment 
towards  subjects  still  under  debate.  If  the  judgment 
is  adverse,  the  scientific  worker  discards  his  cherished 
ideas,  even  although  sorrowing,  for  the  sake  of  truth ; 
and  if  substantiated,  he  embraces  them  again  with  the 
joy  of  recovered  treasure.  Now  there  is  probably  no 
field  of  human  inquiry  where  a  greater  mixture  of 
essential  and  non-essential  has  accumulated  than  just 
the  general  field  of  religion.  And  surely  there  is  no 
sphere  where  sharper  distinction  should  be  drawn 
between  what  is  known  and  what  is  inferred,  between 
what  is  and  what  seems  to  be.^  The  influence  of  the 
scientific  spirit  is  seen  in  the  stripping  off  all  round  of 
non-essentials,  in  giving  them  their  right  value,  and 
adjusting  them  to  truths  more  newly  won.  The 
natural  theology  of  one  age  fails  in  its  appeal  to  a 
later  age.  The  piety  of  Paley  still  impresses  men, 
but  not  his  premises  or  proofs.  For  not  merely  has 
Nature  changed,  but  what  is  vastly  more  important  to 
us,  our  understanding  of  her  has  changed  even  more. 
It  could  hardly  be  that  the  old  appeal  should  hold. 
Any  such  spirit  of  inquiry  need  not  be  feared,  for,  in 

^  Prof.  J.  M.  Coulter,  American  Journal  of  Theology ^  vol.  iii.  p.  645. 

42 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

the  language  of  the  unknown  writer  to  the  Hebrews, 
it  merely  "  signifieth  the  removing  of  those  things  that 
are  shaken,  as  of  things  that  have  been  made,  that 
those  things  which  are  not  shaken  may  remain."  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  a  movement  to  be  welcomed,  for  it 
is  at  once  hopeful  and  necessary;  so  much  so  that 
even  of  those  regions  where  its  work  has  been  most 
radical  (as  e.g.  Old  Testament  criticism,  where  it  may 
leave  us  as  a  result  with  but  a  portion  of  a  book 
conforming  to  our  earlier  opinions  of  it),  we  can  say 
fearlessly  and  truthfully,  though  mayhap  paradoxically, 
— The  half  is  better,  greater,  than  the  whole.  Yet 
even  all  such  questions  seem  petty  when  compared 
with  the  question  to  which  the  practice  of  the  scientific 
method  ultimately  drives  us — What  is  it  that  finds 
itself  in  constant  reaction  with  Nature,  and  insists  on  a 
renewal  of  expression,  dissatisfied  with  the  elaborated 
testimony  of  a  previous  age  ? 

In  this  connection,  scientific  procedure  suggests  in 
analogy  an  influence  that  may  yet  be  more  definitely 
exerted.  Of  nothing  is  science  more  proud,  on  nothing 
is  she  more  dependent  than  her  experimental  method. 
Experimental  Religion  was  a  word  of  our  fathers 
containing  a  truth  which  is   ever  being   realised  afresh, 

practical  experience  of  the  power  of  religion  on  the 

individual  life.  Experiment  differs  from  mere  observa- 
tion in  that  the  observer  instead  of  merely  waiting  for 
favourable  conditions,  as  e.g.  the  astronomer  and 
palaeontologist  are  compelled  to  do,  himself  in  great 
part  arranges  the  conditions  of  the  phenomenon  of 
which  he  desires  experience :  others  of  them  are 
arranged  for  him  in  the  fundamental  laws  of  nature. 
A  good  experiment  is  one  which  teaches  us  more  than 
a  single  isolated  fact,  one  which  enables  us  to  predict, 
to  generalise,  for  without  generalisation  prediction    is 

43 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

impossible.  Religious  experience,  no  less  than  any- 
other  kind  of  experience,  may  be  acquired  under 
conditions  that  lend  themselves  to  arrangement  and 
repetition.  Concerning  these  conditions  the  learner 
can  only  go  to  those  who  have  already  made  experi- 
ment. For  if  there  is  an  experience  in  religious 
matters  as  well  as  in  things  secular,  and  if  in  the  case 
of  the  latter  we  go  to  the  expert  for  information  and 
for  stimulus,  then  it  would  seem  to  be  the  wise  and 
proper  course  to  seek  out  the  men  of  moral  genius, 
and  from  them  learn  the  best  that  they  can  teach  us. 
How  can  a  man  otherwise  begin  to  understand  that  for 
which  he  has  no  initial  affinity  ?  And  if  it  appears  that 
such  experience  culminated  in  One  who  more  than  any 
other  claimed  to  know  the  mind  and  will  of  God,  and 
has  proven  Himself  to  be  such  by  the  inspiration  of  His 
life,  then  it  would  seem  the  height  of  folly  to  disregard 
His  teaching  and  to  refuse  to  learn  of  Him.^  Now  that 
teaching  is  above  all  things  experimental.^  In  many 
instances  it  consists  of  definite  assurances  of  results  pro- 
vided certain  conditions  are  followed,^  and  the  predictions 
and  generalisations  of  the  most  competent  experimenters 
have  been  throughout  the  ages  a  source  of  joy  and  en- 
couragement to  themselves  and  to  their  fellow-men. 

The  influence  of  Science  upon  Religion  may 
lastly  be  seen  in  the  gradual  growth  of  an  atmosphere, 
an  attitude  of  mind,  which  may  be  called  the  scientific 
temper  in  Religion.  This  naturally  results  from  use 
of  scientific  methods,  but  in  differentiating  the  two  we 
imply  something  more  subtle  and  difficult  of  definition. 
The  breadth  of  outlook,  the  hankering  after  causality, 
the  desire  to  test  all  things  and  hold  to  that  which 
is  good,  the  freedom    from   dogmatism,    the    patience 

^  cf.  Wilfrid  Ward,  Synthetic  Society  Papers,  p.  19. 
"^  cf.  John  vii.  17.  ^  cf.  John  xv.  7,  10. 

44 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

under  mental  tribulation,  the  perseverance  in  the  face 
of  temporary  failure  and  defeat,  the  wistfulness  that 
will  yet  ponder  for  years  over  an  apparently  insoluble 
problem,  the  determination  that  again  and  again 
traverses  the  field  of  the  known  to  verify  or  pick  up 
some  grain  of  knowledge  that  has  been  overlooked, 
the  sympathetic  regard  for  his  brother's  travail,  the 
secret  and  immovable  content  with  the  universe, 
the  firm  assurance  that  it  is  sound  and  solvent  at 
the  core — it  is  in  traits  such  as  these  that  we  may, 
and  increasingly  do,  recognise  the  scientific  temper  in 
the  religious  man.  But  most  specifically  may  we 
think  of  that  spirit  of  adventure  without  which  Science 
could  not  enlarge  her  borders,  and  through  lack  of 
which  religious  life  has  stagnated  not  merely  in  many 
an  individual  but  even  in  whole  communities.  Few 
great  scientific  discoveries  have  been  made  directly  and 
immediately ;  for  the  most  part  they  have  been  the 
result  of  accident,  by-products  of  some  intellectual  and 
experimental  enterprise  that  definitely  set  out  in 
another  direction.  "  The  process  of  seeking  out 
analogies  and  resemblances  wisely,"  says  Mivart,^  "  is 
perhaps  the  special  characteristic  of  a  sagacious  man 
of  science."  Very  often  the  man  of  science  is  as  a 
fisherman  throwing  out  the  bold  line  of  his  hypothesis 
or  speculation  over  some  region  of  the  river  of  experi- 
ence that  flows  continually  by  him.  He  has  reason 
to  believe  that  there  are  fish  in  that  particular  stretch ; 
someone  else  has  got  a  fact  or  two  out  of  it.  And 
he  throws  out  his  line,  but  the  fish  are  not  amenable. 
He  then  alters  his  hypothesis, — changes  his  fly  as  it 
were, — and  after  repeated  attempts  and  days  of  patient 
endeavour,  during  which  he  finds  that  none  of  the 
accredited  flies  are  of  value,  he  makes  up  that  particular 

1  The  Groundwork  of  Science^  p.  96, 

45 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

new  fly  that  compasses  his  facts, — he  enunciates  the 
hypothesis  that  fits  and  suits  the  facts  so  that  he  can, 
as  it  were,  control  and  draw  them  in  to  his  side.  Now, 
in  the  religious  life  is  there  not,  or  rather  should  there 
not  be,  something  very  like  this  ?  How  else  can  we 
describe  the  feeling  after  God  in  all  generations,  if 
haply  they  might  find  him,  this  setting  of  the  soul  in  a 
particular  direction  ?  Even  towards  that  revelation 
which  was  given  in  Jesus  Christ  of  the  loving  Father 
heart  of  God  and  of  all  that  concerns  His  relationship 
to  the  sons  of  men  who  are  His  children,  a  man  could 
adopt  no  more  fitting  mental  attitude;  while  the  humble 
but  adventurous  and  expectant  soul  that  does  the  will 
of  God  will  find  fresh  knowledge, — not  merely  know- 
ledge that  is  already  the  experience  of  others  though 
new  to  itself, — but  absolutely  new  knowledge  pouring  in 
on  every  hand  concerning — to  take  but  a  single  example 
— the  nature  of  God,  who  does  become  known  to  us  in 
certain  of  His  attributes  as  an  evergrowing  revelation. 
To  "  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord"  is  a  supreme  duty  as 
well  in  the  interests  of  man's  thought  as  of  his  soul. 

If  in  concrete  illustration  we  might  endeavour  to 
imagine  a  scientific  man  at  work  upon  his  creed, 
assuming  that  he  has  the  will  to  believe  or  the  will 
to  doubt,  or  at  any  rate  is  not  disposed  to  regard  the 
theistic  attitude  unfavourably,  we  may  be  sure  that 
he  will  begin  by  telling  us  that  no  thinking  man 
begins  with  a  creed  ;  he  arrives  at  a  creed.  He  will 
also  tell  us  that  he  is  not  afraid  daily  to  re-examine 
critically  his  creed  ;  science  waits  no  three  hundred 
years  for  oecumenical  revision.  The  man  of  science 
believes  nothing  to-day  in  the  strict  realms  of  science 
that  he  is  not  prepared  to  surrender  to-morrow,  should 
sufficient  reason  be  shown.  He  will  further  lay  stress 
on    the    fact    that    religious,    and     more     particularly 

46 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

theological,  thought  is  tinged — perhaps  a  stronger 
word  should  be  used — with  anthropomorphism.  That, 
of  course,  cannot  be  helped  ;  it  is,  so  to  speak,  part 
of  the  rules  of  the  game.  But  he  will  insist  that  we 
be  thoroughly  conscious  of  this  anthropomorphic  bias, 
and  set  some  check  upon  it.  He  will  also  have  us 
definitely  recognise  that  ultimately  we  are  all  agnostic 
in  a  sense.  God  is  unknowable  in  the  exhaustive  sense. 
The  man  of  science  will  tell  us  all  he  knows  about  his 
department,  and  then  he  will  take  Job's  words  and  say, 
"  Lo,  these  are  but  parts — the  outskirts — of  His  ways  ; 
and  how  small  a  whisper  do  we  hear  of  Him  !  but  the 
thunder  of  His  power  who  can  understand  ?  "  ^ 

He  will  also,  in  his  honesty,  probably  let  us  know 
that  there  are  certain  moods, — although  a  mood  in 
itself  is  never  a  philosophy — certain  environments,  in 
which  he  would  find  it  easier  to  entertain  a  theistic 
interpretation  than  in  others.  Men  do  not  believe 
equally  intensely  all  the  time.  There  are  differences 
in  the  degree  as  well  as  in  the  range  of  men's  faith, 
religious  or  scientific.  Of  some  things  they  are  more 
sure  than  others,  and  many  are  the  influences,  in- 
cluding sometimes  even  the  infectious  strong  faith  of 
another,  that  cause  these  differences  of  degree.  He 
will  ask  you  to  read  such  a  book  as  Maeterlinck's 
The  Bee,  or  wander  through  the  streets  of  earthquake- 
stricken  Messina,  and  then  try  and  do  a  little  theistic 
thinking.  God,  if  the  Nicene  Creed  is  right,  is 
responsible  for  the  bee  community — for  those  features 
that  shock  our  moral  sense  no  less  than  for  those  that 
excite  our  wonder.  All  things  are  ordered  by  the 
divine  Thought  or  Will  or  Reason,  and  in  that  bee 
community  we  see  a  part  of  the  divine  economy. 
There   He  is  working  and  realising  as  in  the   circuit 

^  Job  xxvi.  14. 

47 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

of  the  planets,  and  in  the  hearts  of  men.  For  what 
are  God's  works  of  Providence?  In  the  words  of  a 
famous  catechism,  "  God's  works  of  Providence  are 
His  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful  preserving  and 
governing  all  His  creatures  and  all  their  actions," — 
all  His  creatures  and  all  their  actions — the  plesiosaurus 
of  other  days,  you  and  me  and  the  bee.  We  can 
divine  in  part,  and  we  can  believe;  nay,  are  we  not 
apt  to  let  the  rest  of  the  redemptive  system  outlined 
in  Scriptural  Catechism  obscure  our  appreciation  of 
this  central  truth — the  broadest  generalisation  of  them 
all — if  it  be  true — that  God  is  exercising  a  continual 
providential,  a  holy,  wise,  and  powerful  governance 
over  the  lives  of  all  His  creatures  ?  But  we  must  not 
shut  our  eyes  to  facts,  and  such  an  incident  in  the 
social  history  of  the  bees  as  the  yearly  massacre  of 
the  drones  gives  us  something  to  think  about.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  everything  is  apparently  run  on  a 
system  of  monstrous  waste,  and  we  have  got  to  try 
and  find  a  rationale  of  it.  We  can  imagine  that  things 
might  have  been  otherwise.  Such  imaginings  are 
our  ideals,  which,  unrealised,  have  filled  men's  minds 
with  saving  yearning  and  a  divine  discontent.  This 
yearning  finds  expression  in  works  so  far  removed 
from  one  another  as  H,  G.  Wells'  Anticipations  and 
St.  John's  Apocalypse. 

Our  man  of  science  will  further  tell  you  that  while 
carefully  bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  study  of 
the  sciences  can  never  give  us  any  generalisation  that 
is  more  than  probable,  yet  for  practical  purposes  he 
divides  a  creed — your  creed  or  his — into  three  com- 
partments corresponding  to  the  terms.  Knowledge, 
Belief,  and  Over-Belief.^     Under    Knowledge,  he  will 

^  Perhaps  more   expressively   rendered   in   the    German    equivalents — 
Wissen^  Glanbc^  and  Aberglaube. 

48 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

include  for  himself  all  natural  knowledge.  Thus  he 
will  begin  his  creed  :  "  I  believe  that  one  and  one  are 
two,"  and  continue  through  all  the  sphere  of  knowledge 
until  he  has  brought  in  the  latest  scientific  discovery. 
Of  course  such  bare  recital  does  not  necessarily  include 
all  that  he  will  claim  to  know.  He  may  feel  assured, 
e.g,^  that  the  creative  activity  has  delight  and  com- 
placency  in  maintaining  the  succession  of  the  seasons, 
flowers,  and  human  beings,  and  that  too  without  any 
incompatibility  in  the  death  of  the  individual  or  even 
the  extermination  of  the  species.  He  might  maintain 
that  to  him  it  is  intuitionally  revealed  that  Being  is 
a  good,  that  in  any  form  it  is  worth  having,  that  not 
merely  man  but  beasts  and  flowers,  mayhap  the  crystal, 
have  a  certain  awareness  of  it  and  satisfaction  in  mere 
existence. 

"For  love  we  Earth,  then  serve  we  all; 
Her  mystic  secret  then  is  ours : 
We  fall,  or  view  our  treasures  fall, 
Unclouded,  as  beholds  her  flowers 

Earth,  from  a  night  of  frosty  wreck. 

Enrobed  in  morning's  mounted  fire, 
When  lowly,  with  a  broken  neck, 

The  crocus  lays  her  cheek  to  mire."  ^ 

He  might  suppose  the  very  elements  on  cross- 
examination  saying :  "  It  is  worth  while  existing,  and 
we  are  content  to  be  here  doing  the  will  of  God." 
Which  if  it  were  all  true  would  mean  that  there  is  a 
very  real  sense  in  which  there  is  no  waste;  "nothing 
walks  with  aimless  feet."  He  might  think  of  the 
myriad  pollen  grains  that  have  failed  to  wake  an 
egg-cell  into  fulness  of  life,  yet  out  of  their  v^xy  joie 
de  vivre  reflecting,  "  No,  we  are  not  wasted,  none  of 
us,  and  we  are  all  quite  happy."  And  if  all  created 
1  G.  Meredith,  "The  Thrush  in  February." 

D  49 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

things  have  this  joie  de  vivre,  this  joie  d'etre,  then 
a  fortiori,  he  infers,  it  is  so  with  God.  But  such 
reflections  would  not  fall  within  his  category  of 
experiential   knowledge. 

Under  Belief,  the  man  of  Science  might  include, 
e.g.,  personal  immortality.  He  might  believe  in  the 
immortality  of  his  father,  of  his  mother,  of  himself,  for 
various  reasons,  although  he  does  not  know  it  to  be 
a  fact,  and  does  not  know  anyone  who  does;  he 
maintains  that  it  cannot  be  a  matter  of  Knowledge 
{pace  the  Psychical  Research  Society),  nevertheless  it 
cannot  be  disproved,  which  will  differentiate  it  from 
all  Over-belief.  Having  entered  this  region  of  belief 
he  might  even  add  a  corollary,  as  e.g.,  The  immortal 
spirits  of  those  whom  we  love,  are  and  will  be  willing 
to  help  us.  Christ,  my  father,  my  mother,  each 
according  to  their  ability  in  this  unseen  world,  wishes 
me  well,  and  will  do  me  all  the  good  they  can ;  and 
in  the  degree  in  which  each  of  them  is  co-extensive 
with  God  will  be  their  power  to  help  me. 

Under  Over-belief  he  will  say  that  a  person  may 
cherish  any  belief  that  he  thinks  necessary  or  helpful 
to  him  in  maintaining  his  Belief.  One  remarkable 
form  of  Over-belief  is  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantia- 
tion,  namely,  that  under  certain  conditions,  and  in  a 
certain  place,  a  wafer  of  bread  is  changed  into  the 
body  of  Christ.  Here  the  true  man  of  science  will 
not  scoff,  but  perhaps  will  say,  "  Go  on  believing 
for  the  present,  if  that  is  necessary  to  your  Belief,  and 
God  be  with  you  :  I  will  try  and  find  for  you  some- 
thing more  true  upon  which  you  can  repose  your 
faith." 

Again,  he  will  hold  that  it  is  Over-belief  in  the  case 
of  many  people  which  leads  them  still  to  maintain 
that    Moses,    David,   and    Isaiah   wrote   all  of   certain 

50 


SCIENCE  AND  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

works  associated  with  their  names.  Some  are  perfectly- 
aware  that  they  are  hardly  warranted  in  so  believing : 
it  is  an  over-belief  on  their  part.  Here  the  true  man 
of  science  will  not  chide,  but  he  will  say,  "  Go  on 
believing,  if  that  is  necessary  to  your  Belief,  but  at  any 
rate  do  not  think  hardly  of  those  who  do  not  share 
your  belief  If  your  belief  is  sincere,  not  something 
held  for  social  or  ulterior  selfish  reason,  we  shall  together 
be  led  into  all  truth." 

Hitherto  we  have  been  discussing  the  scientific 
temper  in  religion,  but  there  is  the  complementary  side, 
which  if  not  so  obvious  is  at  least  as  imperative — the 
religious  temper  in  science.  In  proportion  as  the 
two  tempers  grow,  there  will  come  that  final  recogni- 
tion of  the  relation  of  scientific  and  religious  thought 
as  twin  expressions  of  fundamental  truth.  The  revela- 
tion of  order  rather  than  of  power  as  of  the  very 
essence  of  the  world-process,  the  recognition  of  some- 
thing akin  to  reason  rather  than  to  caprice  as  operative 
at  the  core  of  things,  the  realisation  of  human  participa- 
tion, direct  and  determinative,  in  this  terrestrial  mill, 
must  profoundly  influence  not  merely  man's  highest 
thought  and  deepest  feeling,  but  every  endeavour  that 
is  made  to  increase  the  sum  of  human  knowledge. 
Under  this  conception  of  the  religious  temper  in 
science  would  be  included  that  sense  of  wonder — nay, 
even  of  reverence — that  is  strong  in  the  heart  of  every 
scientific  man  whose  eyes  are  really  open.  As  he 
attempts  to  probe  the  secret  of  the  constitution  of 
matter,  as  he  endeavours  to  comprehend  the  vital 
processes  that  are  in  evidence  in  the  intra-cellular 
microsomes — units  of  life  smaller  than  the  microscopic 
cell, — as  he  reflects  upon  the  evolutionary  outlook  with 
its  vast  perspective  of  progressive  achievement,  he  is 
filled  with  a  sense  of  wonder  which  surely  is  not  far 

51 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

removed  from  worship  "  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  "  He 
that  wonders  shall  reign,  and  he  that  reigns  shall 
rest."  ^  Nor  shall  his  rest  be  disturbed  by  any  appar- 
ently humiliating  discovery  even  in  the  natural  history 
of  Man  ;  for  he  will  have  realised  that  the  whole  process 
is  of  God. 

^  An  extra-canonical  Logion  or  Saying  of  Jesus,  first  known  as  quoted 
by  Clement  of  Alexandria  from  The  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews  :  now 
recovered  in  its  original  form,  cf.  The  Oxyrhynchus  Papyri,  Part  iv.  p.  4. 


S2 


CHAPTER    III 

PRINCIPLES, OF  BIOLOGY 

Biology  is  the  science  of  life  in  the  widest  acceptation 
of  that  term.  It  deals  with  the  general  conclusions 
relating  to  life  that  may  be  drawn  from  study  of  the 
structure  and  activities  of  all  living  things.  As  such  it 
is    as   intimately  connected   with   the  activities  of  the 

y  human  organism  as  with  those  of  the  malarial  parasite 
that  passes  a  stage  of  its  existence  in  his  blood :  it 
concerns  itself  with  every  feature  in  the  apparently 
passive  manifestation  of  the  ^oak-tree's  vitality,  as  in 
that  of  the  active  gall-fly,  whose  developing  eggs 
stimulate  the  gall-formations  upon  its  leaves.  In 
popular  thought,  life  displays  itself  in  two  great, 
apparently   unrelated,    fashions,    corresponding    to   the 

.  animal  and  ^  vegetable  kingdom  respectively — types 
which  are  undoubtedly  sufficiently  distinctive  and 
apart  in  their  most  highly  developed  representatives, 
but  which,  as  they  are  studied  in  a  descending  series, 
are  found  to  become  ever  more  simple,  until  forms  are 
reached  which,  from  the  point  of  view  of  morphology, 
are  practically  alike  in  the  two  instances,  although  still 
differentiable  physiologically :  while  eventually,  certain 
forms  are  reached  when  the  last  differentia  ceases  to 
hold,  and  no  unequivocal  judgment  can  be  passed 
upon  their  animal  or  vegetable  nature.  Yet  let  it 
not    be  imagined  that  to   study  life  in  these  simpler 

53 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

forms    does    anything    more     than    eliminate    certain 
secondary  constituent  elements.     "  Livingness  "  in  itself 

/  is   not    more    intelligible   in   the   amoeba   than   in    the 

(^  elephant. 

The  initial  question  of  Biology  is  the  nature  and 
characteristics  of  living  matter — the  determination  of 
that  wherein  "livingness"  consists.  Conceivably,  this 
may  be  best  attempted  by  considerations  of  the  simpler 
forms  of  life :  yet  to  solve  the  problem  of  their  "  least 
common  measure  "  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  we 
have  determined  the  unit  of  life.  Wherein,  then,  does 
"  livingness  "  consist  ?  Possibly  we  should  instinctively 
reply,  movement — movement,  either  purely  locomotive, 
or  such  as  is  involved  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
functions  of  nutrition  and  reproduction.  Yet  in  the 
case  of  any  seed  or  egg,  life  is  somehow  there,  though 
we  see  no  movement.  We  can  ask  about  either  the 
seed  or  the  egg,  Is  it  alive?  or  Is  it  capable  of  living? 
but  these  are  obviously  two  very  different  questions. 
It  is  known  that  if  dry  seeds  be  kept  for  a  long  period 
in  hermetically  sealed  jars  they  cease  to  respire,  failing 
to  manifest  any  chemical  production  of  COg,  one  of  the 
great  signs  of  life.  Hence  their  chemical  answer  to  the 
question,  Are  you  alive  ?  is  No.  But  does  this  answer 
necessarily  imply  that  they  are  dead  ?  And  again  the 
anwer  is  No,  for  if  released  from  their  prison  and  placed 
I  in  suitable  conditions  they  will  germinate  and  produce 
Vew  plants.  "  So  that  a  seed,  in  so  far  as  it  does  not 
manifest  chemical  change,  is  not  proved  to  be  living : 
and,  inasmuch  as  it  germinates,  is  proved  not  to  be  dead."-^ 
Of  course,  the  usual  escape  from  this  dilemma  is  to  say 
that  the  seed  is  in  a  state  of  latent  life,  during  which, 
we  may  suppose,  there  is  a  complete  suspension  of  all 
the  chemical    changes    that   are    characteristic   of   the 

1  A.  D.  Waller,  T/ie  Signs  of  Life,  p.  5. 
54 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

living  state.     But  a  more  correct  statement  is  that  we 
have    no   means  of   chemical   investigation    sufficiently 
refined  to  reveal  to  us  the  infinitesimal  changes  that  are 
probably   going   on   in  the   apparently    dormant  seed : 
and  it  is  further  possible  that  chemical   change  may  be 
almost   completely  suspended   for  a  time  {e.g.  by  low 
temperature)  without  that  arrest  being  necessarily  final. 
The   reason    for    believing  that    infinitesimal    changes, 
which  our  methods  are  too  crude  to  detect,  are  going 
on  in  the  seeds,  simply  is  the  experience  in  the  first 
place  that  seeds  that   are  kept  for  a  long  time  do  wear 
out,  and   that   the  percentage  of  seeds  that  germinate 
and  grow  gets  smaller  and  smaller  the  longer  they  are 
kept.     "  The  deterioration  is  more  or  less  rapid  accord- 
ing- to  the  nature  of  the  seed   and  the  character  of  its 
protective  coats,  but  in  every  known  instance  there  is 
deterioration     sooner      or     later,"  ^ — deterioration,     i.e. 
change,  chemical  change.      We  do  not  know,  but  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose,  that   the  change  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  tendency  towards  stability  on  the  part  of  the 
seed  molecules  as  the  result  of  the  lack  of  specific  stimu- 
lation.     A  stage  is  reached  when  the  ability  to  respond 
finally  vanishes.      Similarly,  in  the  contrary  direction, 
the   process    of  growth    when   once   begun    cannot   be 
arrested  :  it   must  proceed,  or  the  organism  will  disin- 
tegrate immediately.      Life  is  a  process  rather  than   a 
condition.      When  once,  as  in  the  case  of  the  developing 
G^gg,  a  certain  temperature  has  disturbed  its  statically 
arranged  molecules,  proper  energy  must  be  furnished 
for    continuing    the    process,   or    the    whole    structure 
dissociates  and  falls  apart,  and  we  say  that  the  thing  is 
dead. 

Hence,  with  Waller,  we  ought  probably  to  specify 
the  character  of  the  typical  seed  or  Qgg  in  this  way : 

1  Waller,  op,  cit.  p.  6. 

55 


( 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Matter — Not  living — Formerly  living — Capable  of 
living  again.  They  are  physico-chemical  structures 
whose  life  may  begin,  rather  than  living  things  them- 
selves. Further,  it  has  been  shown  that  the  vitality 
of  seeds  can  be  tested  by  the  electromotive  method 
(electrical  changes  being  taken  as  the  token  of  chemical 
changes,  which  are  in  turn  a  sign  of  life)  ;  so  that  in 
addition  to  the  question.  Are  you  alive  ?  we  can  put 
the  question  to  the  seed,  How  much  are  you  alive? 
and  learn  its  answer  in  terms  of  electric  units.  Plants 
are  obviously  not  as  alive  as  animals,  and  in  the  case 
of  the  seed,  different  degrees  of  vitality  will  be  shown 
corresponding  with  its  age.  At  the  same  time  we 
have  made  little  advance  in  our  inquiry  as  to  wherein 
"  livingness  "  consists.  For  the  simple  truth  is  that  we 
cannot  tell  what  life  is.  Yet  if  we  cannot  tell  what 
life  is,  we  can  state  what  living  things  do.  It  is 
possible  to  make  a  series  of  statements  descriptive,  if 
not  definitive,  of  living  things. 

I.  All  living  things  consist  of  a  colloidal  substance 
called  Protoplasm.  As  seen  in  the  simplest  plants 
and  animals,  it  is  viscid  and  translucent,  generally 
colourless,  immiscible  in  water,  and  yet  composed  of  it 
sometimes  to  the  extent  of  90  per  cent.  Chemically 
analysed,  after  treatment  by  re-agents,  which  rob  it  of 
its  essential  character,  it  is  found  to  consist  of  various 
organic  and  inorganic  compounds  composed  of  carbon, 
hydrogen,  oxygen,  nitrogen,  and  sulphur,  together 
with  traces  of  various  salts  and  other  substances.^ 
Phenomena  like  the  precipitin  reaction  suggest  a 
certain  specificity  in  the  protoplasm  of  different  groups, 
yet    in    its    simplest   and   most  generalised   form,  this 

^  Reinke  found  that  in  the  case  of  Ftiligo  varians  (Flowers  of  Tan)  the 
ash  of  the  burnt  protoplasm  contains  the  following  elements  :  chlorine, 
sulphur,  phosphorus,  potassium,  sodium,  magnesium,  calcium,  and  iron. 

56 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

complex  of  proteins,^  carbohydrates,^  fats,  and  acids, 
exhibits  such  a  variety  of  qualities  that  the  mere 
chemical  synthesis  of  protoplasm  is  no  longer  a  useful 
conception.  The  distinctive  materialistic  fallacy  lies 
in  the  supposition  that  because  the  organic  is  chemi- 
cally decomposable  into  the  inorganic  and  has  the 
same  atomic  composition,  therefore  the  latter  can  give 
rise  to  the  former. 

Chief  amongst  these  characteristic  qualities  is  the 
fact  of  its  organisation.  Structureless  protoplasm  does 
not  exist ;  the  disclosed  homogeneity  is  only  apparent. 
Careful  examination  of  protoplasm,  even  in  that 
specialised  condition  in  which  it  constitutes  the  cell- 
nucleus,  shows  that  under  the  morphological  aspect 
two  main  constituents  are  present,  one  of  which,  the 
more  liquid  ground  substance,  is  continuously  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  meshes  of  a  more  active  and, 
at  the  same  time,  firmer  reticulum,  as  the  second 
constituent  is  called.  But  it  is  just  here  that  a  certain 
divergence  of  opinion  occurs,  although  it  is  always 
possible  that  of  the  two  views  most  in  favour,  each 
expresses  a  part  of  the  truth.  Butschli,  together  with 
a  considerable  number  of  biologists,  looks  upon  proto- 
plasm as  essentially  liquid,  or  rather  a  mixture  of 
liquid  colloids  showing  an  emulcent  structure  in  which 
the  firmer  portion  forms  the  wall  of  separate  chambers 
that  are  filled  with  minute,  closely  crowded  drops  of 
the  more  fluid  portion.  Any  reticular  appearance, 
therefore,  is  an  illusion,  being  simply  the  sectional 
aspect    of   the    alveolar    structure.^     The    filmy  walls 

1  072Hxi2Ni8022S  =  possible  minimal  composition  of  a  molecule  of  egg 
albumen.     The  diameter  is  possibly  6  ^ifi. 

2  i.e.  starches,  sugars,  etc. 

2  With  singular  skill  Butschli  succeeded  in  preparing  artificial  emulsions 
which  show  a  striking  resemblance  to  actual  protoplasm  in  structure  and 
in  movement.     More  recently,  and  even  more   arrestingly,    Leduc  {The 

57 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

may  even  in  part  be  induced  as  the  result  of  precipita- 
tion and  other  mutual  chemical  influences  of  the  differ- 
ent colloidal  elements.  The  majority  of  the  earlier 
observers,  together  with  a  large  modern  school,  hold 
to  the  view  that  asserts  the  presence  of  extremely 
delicate,  though  coherent,  threads  ^  which  extend  through 
the  more  liquid  ground  substance,  either  forming  an 
uneven  but  continuous  meshwork  like  the  fibres  of  a 
sponge,  or  consisting  of  disconnected  threads  and  their 
branches.  Now,  although  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that 
in  many  instances  protoplasm  does  present  a  vacuolar 
or  foam-like  structure,  to  admit  this  does  not  necessarily 
commit  us  to  Butschli's  special  theory  of  its  intimate 
structure.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fibrillar  network  so 
often  and  so  widely  demonstrated,  especially  during 
cell-division,  seems  to  be  a  general,  perhaps  the  more 
typical  and  primitive,  structure.  Further,  the  clearer 
outer  layer  of  protoplasm  in  a  cell  (ectoplasm)  differs 
in  many  other  characters  from  the  darker  and  more 
granular  inner  portion  (endoplasm).  Hence  we  come 
with  Oscar  Hertwig  to  the  conclusion  that  "  the  proto- 
plasm of  different  organisms  varies  in  its  material, 
composition  and  structure.  Apparently,  however,  these 
important  differences  are  due  to  variations  in  molecular 
arrangement."  ^  There  is  no  universal  mode  in  its 
structure :  protoplasm  is  polymorphic,  but  it  is  just 
possible  that  the  different  types  represent  different 
phases  of  its  development. 

In  virtue  of  this  organisation  the  attempt  is  con- 

Mechanis7n  of  Life)  has  produced  osmotic  creations  that  temporarily  show 
features  analogous  to  characters  of  living  forms.  His  general  conclusions, 
however,  seem  to  be  in  advance  of  his  data. 

^  Seen  in  living  cells  of  cartilage,  epithelium,  connective  tissue,  and 
some  other  animal  cells. 

'^  The  Cell,  Eng.  trans.,  p.  26. 

58 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

tinually  made  to  offer  a  complete  explanation  of  the 
living  thing  in  terms  of  mechanics.  The  living  or- 
ganism is  certainly  more  of  a  mechanism  than  of  a 
chemical  compound,  and  its  activities  virill  find  a  better 
explanation  along  mechanical  lines  than  in  the  mere 
consideration  of  its  chemical  nature.  Doubtless  the 
properties  of  the  living  cell  may  in  the  end  be  traced 
to  chemical  forces,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  activities 
of  the  steam  engine;  yet  no  one  will  maintain  that 
chemical  forces  explain  the  motion  of  the  steam  engine. 
The  actions  of  the  living  cell  will  be  better  explained 
in  terms  of  its  mechanism  than  of  its  chemistry,  yet 
even  here  imperfectly.  Superficial  resemblances  that 
disclose  themselves,  in  their  greater  or  less  complete- 
ness, simply  serve  to  hide  the  critical  points  of 
difference.  Thus  it  is  obvious  that  in  either  case 
suitable  fuel  or  food  requires  to  be  more  or  less 
continuously  supplied — and  all  fuels  are  organic  sub- 
stances— that  this  food  or  fuel  is  subjected  to  definite 
changes  in  the  interior  of  the  mechanism,  in  the  course 
of  which  heat  is  evolved,  and  that  waste  products  are 
formed.  Yet  the  living  organism  is  unlike  a  mechanism 
in  various  respects. 

(a)  The  organism  is  itself  continually  being  changed 
in  the  course  of  its  automatic  developmental  activity. 
The  engine  may  be  said  to  consume  the  fuel  supplied 
to  it,  but  it  does  not  incorporate  it  in  its  own  substance. 
The  food,  self-procured,  of  an  organism  is  in  a  sense 
its  fuel,  but  it  becomes  directly  transformed  into  the 
machinery  that  is  at  work. 

(d)  The  organism  has  a  power  of  self-adjustment 
and  regulation  amounting  to  self-preservation  which 
has  not  been  added  to  it  from  the  outside,  and  is  not 
a  necessary  property  of  the  substance  of  which  it  is 
composed :    the  activity  of   a   machine,  on    the   other 

59 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

hand,  is  of  no  use  to  it  in  the  line  of  preserving  its 
integrity.  In  this  feature  of  adaptability  we  seem  to 
get  close  to  the  heart  of  life :  in  short,  the  changes  can 
only  be  understood  when  regarded  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  inherent  capacity  to  maintain  the  normal 
condition.  In  the  course  of  certain  experiments  con- 
ducted with  the  object  of  determining  the  effects  of 
low  atmospheric  pressure  at  the  top  of  Pike's  Peak, 
Colorado,  Dr.  J.  S.  Haldane  was  able  to  confirm  the  idea 
that  mountain  sickness  was  due  to  lack  of  oxygen,  and 
further  found  that  the  body  in  the  course  of  a  few 
days  tended  to  return  to  the  normal.  The  nausea  and 
other  associated  features  of  the  condition  disappeared, 
for  "  the  lungs  had  begun  to  secrete  oxygen  actively 
into  the  blood  and  raised  its  saturation  with  oxygen. 
At  the  same  time  the  lung  ventilation  was  increased 
and  the  partial  pressure  of  oxygen  in  the  alveoli  was 
raised  correspondingly ;  and,  thirdly,  the  oxygen- 
carrying  power  of  the  blood  was  raised  by  an  increase 
in  the  number  of  the  red  blood  corpuscles.  By  these 
means  the  oxygen  supply  to  the  tissues  was  restored  to 
about  the  normal."  ^  Yet  while  such  adaptability  ex- 
plains the  close  correspondence  between  the  side- 
tracked forms  of  life  and  their  environment,  it  is  help- 
less in  itself  to  enable  us  to  understand  the  character  or 
general  direction  of  the  main-line  movement. 

(c)  The  organism  has  a  certain  regenerative  power. 
In  its  case  that  which  is  consumed  during  activity  is 
the  actual  machinery,  and  within  definite  limits  food 
both  fills  up  the  gaps  left  in  the  mechanism  and  repairs 
any  damage  it  may  have  sustained,  whether  self- 
inflicted  or  otherwise.  The  coal  supplied  to  an  engine 
does  nothing  to  repair  its  tear  and  wear,  nor  can  the 
engine  execute  its  own  repairs.      It  is  here  in  particular 

'^  Brit.  Med.  Journal,  No,  2654,  p.  1300. 
60 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

that  the  mechanical  hypothesis  is  reduced  to  its  logical 
absurdity.  Experimental  data  go  to  show  that  portions 
of  certain  organisms  (Hydra,  Clavelina)  separated  at 
any  point  in  the  early  stages  of  development  have  the 
power  of  developing  into  the  whole,  if  indeed  on  a  re- 
duced scale.  Interpreted  on  the  mechanical  hypothesis, 
this  would  mean  that  in  any  selected  portion  of  the 
whole  which  is,  ex  hypothesi  a  mechanism,  there  is 
ensconced  a  mechanism  that  will  reproduce  the  whole, 
and  the  proven  equi-potentiality  of  these  portions 
means  a  multitude  of  such  mechanisms  localised  pre- 
cisely as  the  experimenter  chooses  to  divide  up  the 
organism.  The  same  conclusion  follows  from  the  fact 
that  individual  cells  of  the  Echinus  ^^g  shaken  apart 
at  the  i6-cell  stage  develop  into  miniature  complete 
embryos,  one-sixteenth  the  normal  size.  Again,  the 
simple  fact  that  in  certain  cases  of  regeneration,  various 
tissues  working  to  a  great  extent  independently,  com- 
bine harmoniously  in  a  proportionate  whole,  which  is, 
further,  the  same,  although  experimentally  attainable 
by  different  developmental  routes,  so  to  speak,  is  more 
than  sufficient  to  refute  a  purely  mechanical  interpreta- 
tion of  ontogeny.^ 

{d)  A  machine  is  constructed  to  execute  a  certain 
limited  number  of  functions,  and  these  it  perpetually 
performs  in  the  same  way:  the  organism's  range  of 
activity  is  as  wide  and  varied  as  its  methods  of  opera- 
tion. In  particular  no  explanation  could  be  afforded 
along  such  lines  of  the  phenomena  of  autolysis,^ 
whereby  some  of  the  chemical  reactions  associated 
with  life  are  still  observable  in  cells  subjected  to 
treatment  which  must  go  far  to  destroy  their  structure. 

1  Cf.    Hans   Driesch,    T/ie  Science   and  Philosophy  of  the   Organism, 
vol.  i.  pp.  158-161. 

2Cf.  F.  Czapek,  Chemical  Phenomena  in  Life,  pp.  14,  15. 

61 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

(e)  The  organism  can  completely  reproduce  itself 
by  means  of  parts  thrown  off  from  itself:  there  is 
nothing  analogous  to  sexual  reproduction  in  the  in- 
organic kingdom.  The  simple  fact  that  in  reproduc- 
tion the  individual  has  a  definite  origin  in  time  and 
space,  seems  to  dispose  of  any  fundamentally  mechanical 
interpretation  of  inheritance.  Between  the  idea  of  the 
fertilised  egg-cell  and  its  myriad  divisions  resulting  in 
a  whole  wherein  again  are  segregated  cells  that  have 
the  power  to  repeat  the  process,  and  anything  that  we 
can  fairly  associate  with  the  word  machine,  there  is  no 
correspondence.  We  cannot  imagine  a  machine  that 
can  subdivide  continuously,  retaining  its  wholeness,  and 
yet  can  duplicate  itself  in  certain  of  the  products  of  self- 
division.  To  have  such  an  entity  in  the  living  organism, 
and  then  apply  to  it  the  term  machine,  is  simply  to 
play  with  words. 

(/)  The  activity  of  a  machine  is  usually  the  sum  of 
the  activities  of  its  constituent  parts,  but  in  the  case 
of  the  organism  it  is  something  more,  for  its  living 
unity  is  not  merely  represented  by  the  sum  of  its 
organs,  but  involves  a  certain  subtle  interplay  and 
mutual  influence  of  its  constituent  activities.  To  ex- 
press the  total  activity  of  an  organism  by  the  sum  of 
all  its  separately  analysed  activities  would  be  to  omit 
all  recognition  of  the  relation — the  rebounds,  so  to 
speak — which  unite  and  pass  between  the  several 
activities.  There  may  be  a  mechanism  of  isolated 
parts,  but  in  many  cases  they  are  detachable  from  the 
whole  without  vital  damage;  whence  it  would  seem 
that  the  mechanism  of  the  whole  must  be  different,  and 
at  any  rate  indivisible.  But  this  particular  mechanism, 
in  itself  constantly  changing  and  yet  extending  itself 
through  time,  is  incommensurate  with  anything  to 
which  that  term  is  usually  applied. 

62 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

In  short,  the  differences  are  so  great  that  unless 
they  are  steadily  held  in  view  the  analogy  becomes 
positively  misleading.  To  attempt  to  explain  the 
living  organism  and  its  activities  in  physico-chemical 
terminology  is  permissible  as  a  scientific  ideal.  Even 
in  that  most  difBcult  of  all  realms,  the  study  of  nervous 
process,  Professor  Gotch  is  perfectly  entitled  to  claim 
that  nervous  activity  "  does  not  owe  its  physiological 
mystery  to  a  new  form  of  energy,  but  to  the  circum- 
stance that  a  mode  of  energy  displayed  in  the  non- 
living world  occurs  in  colloidal  electrolytic  substances 
of  great  chemical  complexity."  ^  On  the  other  hand, 
to  pretend  that  even  an  approximation  has  already 
been  reached  in  general  or  in  detail  is  mere  myopia. 

To  all  the  above  it  may  be  objected  that  neverthe- 
less the  living  organism  is  a  mechanism  and  can  be 
sufficiently  explained  along  these  lines.  But  this  seems 
to  beg  the  question.  We  can  set  forth  all  the  dis- 
tinctive qualities  of  living  things  and  then  state  that 
they  are  mechanisms,  but  to  do  so  is  to  rob  the  latter 
word  of  its  ordinary  significance,  a  significance  that  is 
in  a  parlous  condition,  seeing  that  the  very  principles 
of  mechanics  themselves  are  far  from  being  satisfactorily 
determined.  And  in  any  case  between  that  which 
exhibits  spontaneous  evidence  of  mind,  and  that  which 
does  not,  there  is  an  enormous  difference  which  cannot 
be  resolved  by  the  mere  application  of  the  word 
mechanism  to  both. 

The  above  discussion  may  then  be  considered  as 
having  indicated  the  relation  of  life  to  matter.  The 
mere  fact  that  the  first  touch  of  the  chemical  re-agent 
in  the  analysis  of  protoplasm  robs  it  of  its  distinctive 
character,  shows  that  life  is  not  material  :  we  know 
life  only  in  association  with  matter,  yet  it  is  not  matter. 

^  Brit.  Ass.  Report,  1906,  p.  716. 

63 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

A  cat  weighs  no  more  or  no  less  after  the  loss  of  its 
proverbial  nine  lives  than  it  did  in  life.  If  life  were 
material,  then  ex  hypothesi  it  ought  to  weigh  more  in 
life  than  in  death.  On  the  contrary,  an  equally  false 
impression  that  dead  things  weigh  more,  instead  of 
less,  than  living  things,  is  preserved  in  the  popular 
expression,  "  a  dead  weight."  Life,  then,  is  not  matter, 
nor  is  it  exhausted  by  the  concept  of  matter.  In  itself 
it  occupies  no  space :  it  has  no  weight  as  we  know 
gravity.  It  may  be  figured  as  the  flow  of  something — 
a  procession.      Life  is  essentially  labile. 

2.  All  living  things  exhibit  a  directive  control  over 
energy  which  leads  to  its  further  availability.  They 
are  able  to  transform  energy  in  their  own  interests,  for 
their  self-maintenance. 

These  statements  deal  with  the  relation  of  life  to 
energy — in  some  ways  the  most  complicated  of  all  the 
problems  that  fall  to  be  considered  in  this  connection. 
In  comparing  what  we  know  of  life  with  all  other  forms 
of  energy,  we  realise  in  the  first  place  that  the  origin 
of  the  latter  is  under  command  in  a  way  that  is  not 
predicable  of  the  origin  of  life.  A  man  strikes  a  flint 
and  steel  together,  and  so  produces  light  and  heat  as 
often  as  he  cares  to  repeat  the  operation :  but  he  has 
no  ability  to  treat  non-living  substances  in  such  a  way 
as  to  get  life  out  of  them.  He  can  tap  all  the  other 
forms  of  energy  at  any  point :  he  cannot  do  so  with 
life.  Numerous  experiments  prove  the  transformation 
of  energy  and  the  ease  of  this  transformation  :  but  as 
yet  there  has  been  no  hint  of  the  direct  transformation 
of  any  known  form  of  energy  into  life,  or  vice  versa. 

Nevertheless,  living  matter  is  able  to  effect  such 
transformations :  it  is,  in  fact,  the  seat  of  continuous 
transformation  of  energy.  In  these  transformations 
there  is  nothing  that  goes  contrary  to  the  fundamental 

64 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

laws  of  the  conservation  of  matter  and  of  energy :  the 
potential  energy  in  any  food  can  be  calculated,  and 
the  value  found  unimpaired  in  some  type  of  equivalent 
work  done  or  heat  evolved.  But  this  does  not  mean 
that  there  is  nothing  distinctive  in  connection  with 
these  transformations.  Certain  physical  and  chemical 
characteristics  abide  with  the  organism  in  death  as  in 
life ;  but  when  the  typical  energy  phenomena  are  no 
longer  in  evidence  we  say  that  the  thing  is  dead. 
Life,  then,  has  to  do  with  energy,  but  is  not  itself 
energy — not  even  a  specific  kind  of  energy.  Its 
characteristic  is  seen  in  the  way  in  which  that  energy 
is  directed  and  controlled.  The  difference  between  a 
living  and  a  dead  cat  is  that  the  former  is  able  to 
direct  its  energy  into  paths  which  are  impossible  for 
the  dead  animal  with  its  equal  stock  of  energy :  the 
sum  of  energy  is  in  no  way  affected.  The  energy  of 
the  dead  cat  flows  along  paths  which  are  determined  by 
external  agency,  and  very  quickly  a  state  of  equilibrium 
is  reached  :  the  energy  is  dissipated  by  heat  radiation 
and  slow  combustion  of  the  tissues — we  can  tell  exactly 
how.  The  energy  of  the  living  cat  flows  along  paths 
which  are  only  indirectly  determined  by  outside  con- 
ditions, and  we  can  only  within  a  wide  range  of 
probability  predict  what  particular  form  the  expenditure 
will  take — how  the  cat  will  jump.  Every  living  thing 
is  a  centre  at  which  energy  is  being  constantly  trans- 
formed— a  mechanical  energy-transformer — a  centre, 
further,  at  which  the  tendency  to  degradation  of  energy 
is  resisted.  But  it  is  more.  It  also  acts  as  a  directive 
channel  along  which  energy  can  flow  to  accomplish 
specific  work :  as  long  as  the  organism  is  alive  it  is 
continually  disturbing  the  equilibrium  which  should 
otherwise  arise  between  itself  and  the  environment  and 
within  its  own  elements.  Life  is  unceasing,  directive, 
E  6$ 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  selective  ^  control  of  energy :  like  some  invisible 
charioteer  it  stands  athwart  a  complex  of  moving 
forces,  constraining  and  controlling  them.  But  it  is 
also  accumulation  of  energy,  e.g.  in  specific  tissues  and  a 
transformation  of  it  leading  to  further  availability.  The 
organism  up  to  a  certain  stage  appears  to  be  continually 
gaining  energy  at  the  expense  of  the  environment. 

There  are,  however,  other  controls  of  energy : 
temperature,  e.g.^  controls  its  passage  in  the  form  of 
heat  from  the  warmer  to  the  colder  body.  But  this 
passage  involves  not  merely  degradation  in  that  par- 
ticular form.  Hibbert^  brings  out  very  clearly  that 
the  difference  in  temperature  is  a  determining  factor, 
and  that  in  any  calculation  of  work  done  it  will  find 
a  place ;  whereas  it  is  impossible  to  show  that  life  is  a 
factorial  element  in  any  calculation  of  the  work  done 
by  a  living  organism.  The  nearest  parallel,  yet  hardly 
a  parallel,  would  be  in  the  unique  characteristic  of 
reproduction,  when,  owing  to  the  accumulation  of 
energy,  it  may  reasonably  be  conceived  that  the  control 
or  potential  factor  exhibits  itself  in  the  process  of 
division.  This  control  is  superlatively  seen  in  the 
development  of  the  segmenting  ^g^  to  its  predestined 
goal  in  the  typical  adult  form.  Accordingly,  we 
conclude  that  after  the  methods  borrowed  from  the 
analysis  of  inorganic  nature  are  exhausted,  there  is  a 
residuum  of  fact  which  is  untouched  by  them,  viz.  the 
directive  control  and  co-ordinated  adaptation  of  every 
element  of  its  activity  by  the  organism  to  its  own  end. 
The  biological  whole  is  greater  than  the  sum  of  its 
physical  or  chemical  parts.  And  it  is  no  objection  to 
urge  that  we  are  not  objectively  aware  of  this  peculiar 
control  {i.e.  it  is  not  located  in  any  particular  organisa- 

*  In  the  sense  that  it  selects  this  or  that  mode  of  attaining  an  end. 

*  W.  Hibbert,  Life  and  Energy^  p.  50. 

66 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

tion),  for  the  same  is  true  of  all  physical  actions,  as 
e.g.  gravitational  attraction.  Life  is  known  to  us  as 
control  and  guidance  of  energy,  interacting  with  matter 
in  ways  which  if  not  yet  wholly  intelligible  to  us,  are 
clearly  not  covered  by  what  we  know  of  its  physico- 
chemical  properties. 

3.  All  living  things  are  characterised  by  cellular 
structure.  Life,  that  is  to  say,  so  far  as  we  know  it 
to-day,  appears  in  one  typical  form — that  of  the  cell. 
In  the  case  of  the  higher  forms  of  life,  the  size  and 
shape  of  the  cell  are  more  constant  than  the  size 
and  shape  of  the  individual.  The  farther  apart  living 
forms  are  from  the  point  of  view  of  classification,  the 
deeper  is  it  necessary  to  go  to  find  community.  In 
extreme  cases  this  may  be  found  only  in  their  cell 
structure  and  protoplasm :  hence  the  fundamental 
importance  of  these  aspects.  It  is,  then,  a  matter  of 
observation  that  the  bodies  of  every  form  of  life,  plant 
or  animal,  are  commonly  composed  of  one  or  more 
minute  structural  units  known  as  cells,  into  which,  in 
the  case  of  higher  forms,  directly  or  indirectly,  every 
part  has  been  secondarily  subdivided  :  all  organisms 
consist  of  cells  and  of  cell  products.  The  body  is  a 
mosaic  rather  than  an  asphalt,  but  the  cells  are  in 
communication,  unisolated  by  cement.  Traces  of  the 
primitive  asphalt  are  however  sometimes  preserved,  as 
in  the  vertebrate  retina.^  From  the  view-point  of  this 
cell-theory,  the  animal  kingdom  (as  likewise  the  plant 
kingdom)  may  be  regarded  as  an  ascending  series  at 
the  bottom  of  which  will  be  put  those  forms  that 
are  unicellular  —  the  Protozoa.  Next  above  them, 
although  essentially  of  them,  come  forms  that  are 
mere  balls    or  colonies  of   cells,  e.g.    Volvox  globator. 

^  Cf.  H.  M.   Bernard,  Some  Neglected  Factors  in  Evolution^   p.   222 
et  seq. 

67 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Thereafter  we  reach  the  sponges,  where  tissues,  i.e. 
aggregates  of  similar  cells  performing  a  single  function 
in  common,  are,  as  it  were,  in  the  making.  Next 
come  the  simpler  members  of  the  Coelenterata — mere 
two-layered  sacs  of  cells,  with  hints  of  organs,  i.e. 
higher  complexes  of  tissues  devoted  to  one  or  more 
specific  functions,  and  so  we  arrive    at    those    higher 


Fig.  I.— General  View  of  Cells  in  the  Growing  Root-Tip  of  the 
Onion,  from  a  Longitudinal  Section  (  x  800). — (a)  Non-divid- 
ing cells  with  chromatin -network  and  deeply  stained  nucleoli ;  {]>) 
nuclei  preparing  for  division  (chromatin  in  form  of  continuous  thread)  ; 
{c)  dividing  cells  showing  mitotic  figures  ;  {e)  pair  of  daughter-cells 
shortly  after  division.     (From  Wilson's  The  Cell,  by  kind  permission.) 


forms,  the  substance  of  whose  skin,  bone,  or  muscle 
is  not  homogeneous  according  to  the  naked-eye  im- 
pression, but  with  the  help  of  the  microscope  is  usually 
resolved  into  aggregates  of  those  countless  minute 
units  called  cells.  And  it  may  be  here  remarked  that 
Ontogeny  discloses  the  remarkable  fact  that  every  one 
of  these  higher  forms,  in  its  individual  life-history,  passes 

68 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

through  a  broadly  corresponding  series,  of  which  the 
first  stage  is  likewise  a  single  cell,  the  fertilised  ovum. 
Paleontology,  as  interpreted  by  Evolution,  teaches  the 
further  striking  fact  that  what  is  thus  true  of  the  in- 
dividual history  holds  likewise  of  the  history  of  the  race, 
which  began  in  the  farthest  aeons  with  the  simplest 
forms  and  progressed  till  it  culminated,  mentally  and 
spiritually,  in  man. 

But  in  addition  to  thus  furnishing  us  with  a  valuable 
point  of  view  from  which  to  regard  the  organic  world 
in  relation  to  structure  (Morphology),  the  cell-theory 
performs  a  similar  service  from  the  point  of  view  of 
function  or  activity  (Physiology).  The  cell  is  not 
merely  a  unit  of  organisation :  it  is  a  unit  of  function. 
In  every  protozoon  the  vital  functions — locomotion, 
respiration  (or  whatever  corresponds  to  it),  absorption 
of  food,  digestion,  excretion,  which  in  the  higher  forms 
are  distributed  amongst  different  cells  or  organs 
devoted  to  the  discharge  of  these  specific  functions — 
are  all  performed  by  the  single  cell.  On  the  other 
hand  it  must  be  as  strenuously  maintained  that  the 
cell  is  not  an  absolute  unit,  and  is  as  decomposable 
into  lesser  units  as  it  is  aggregable  into  individuals  of 
a  higher  order. 

Even  in  the  minute  study  of  the  cell,  however,  the 
enigma  of  life  is  not  more  simply  presented  for 
solution :  indeed,  the  solution  seems  farther  off  the 
deeper  we  pry.  In  addition  to  the  protoplasm  that 
constitutes  the  cell  body  proper  (cytoplasm),  investiga- 
tion discloses  the  presence  of  the  nucleus,  which, 
with  few  exceptions,  is  a  characteristic  of  every  cell. 
Modern  theories  of  heredity  are  in  great  part  theories 
of  the  cell-nucleus. 

The  nucleus  was  first  discovered  in  1833  by  Robert 
Brown  in  plant  cells ;  but  the  signal  role  that  it  plays 

69 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

in  the  economy  of  the  cell  was  not  grasped  till  long 
afterwards.  Thus  phenomena  of  protozoan  regenera- 
tion show  it  to  be  a  formative  centre ;  as  such  it  is 
almost  necessarily  the  chief  chemical  centre  in  the 
cell.  Indeed,  we  are  compelled  to  think  of  a  ceaseless 
interchange,  a  sort  of  whirlpool  effect,  as  continually 


Fig.  2.— Semi-Diagrammatic  Representation  of  a  Cell.  —  {a) 
Nuclear  membrane  ;  {d)  linin  reticulmn  ;  (c)  chromatin  masses  con- 
tained in  envelopes  of  linin  (chromatin  nucleoli)  ;  {d)  true  nucleolus ; 
(e)  vacuole  ;  {/)  plastids ;  {g)  centrosomes  ;  {/i)  archoplasm,  from 
which  attraction-sphere,  astral  rays,  etc.,  are  developed  ;  (i)  food 
particles.  (From  Walker's  Essentials  of  Cytology,  by  kind  permission 
of  the  publishers.) 

going  on  between  nucleus  and  cytoplasm.  Typically 
spherical,  it  may  assume  a  variety  of  shapes :  typi- 
cally single,  it  may  be  double  as  in  some  liver  cells, 
triple  or  quadruple  as  in  some  Ciliata,  or  even  multi- 
plied a  hundredfold  as  sometimes  in  the  giant  cells 
of  bone  marrow.  It  also  occurs  in  all  degrees  of 
organisation. 

70 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

In  any  ordinary  nucleus,  the  following  structural 
elements  may  commonly  be  recognised : — 

(a)  The  nuclear  membrane,  which  is  probably  a  con- 
centration or  felting  of  the  original  reticulum,  thus  per- 
mitting of  direct  communication  between,  if  not  direct 
continuity  of,  the  intra-  and  extra-nuclear  filaments. 

{^)  The  nuclear  reticulum,  which  is  composed  of  two 
distinct  substances — chromatin  and  linin.     The  former 
is    ordinarily    confined    to    the    nucleus,    where    it    is 
generally  seen  as    irregular,  deeply  staining    granules 
and  masses,  deposited,  as  it  were,  on  the  threads  of 
linin,  sometimes  irregularly,  at  other  times  with  such 
regularity  that  the  meshwork  seems  entirely  composed 
of    them.      Indeed,  the    relation    is    often    of   a  more 
intimate     character,     so     that     the     chromatin    seems 
embedded    in   the    linin.      Some    of   the    most    recent 
work  suggests  that  the  chromatin,  on   which  hitherto 
such  stress  has  been  laid  in  connection  with  theories  of 
inheritance,  is    nothing  more  than  a  secretion  of  the 
linin,  and   that  it   is  really  with  the   latter   that  any 
ideas    of    permanence    and     individuality    should     be 
associated.      The   most  striking  support   for  this  view 
is   found  in   the  way  in   which    during  certain   critical 
phases  of  the  nuclear  history  the  chromatin   decreases 
in   amount,  sometimes   even    to    the  vanishing    point, 
and    may   be    supposed    to    have    been    employed    in 
nourishing  the  cell  during  the  stage  in  question.^     But 
this     is    an    over-statement.      Chromatin    is     certainly 
used  up  in    all    functional    activity  and    is    the  more 
chemically  active  of   the  two  elements,   but    it  is   in- 
dispensable to  life,  and  the  granules  even  move  along 
the     linin    filaments    towards     the     locality    of    need. 

1  Unless,  however,  we  assume  that  the  response  of  chromatin  to  stain  is 
constant,  it  may  be  that  this  capacity  for  stain  varies  with  circumstances. 
Such  a  variabihty  seems  to  be  characteristic  of  the  protozoan  nucleus. 

71 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Bernard  has  demonstrated  the  migration  of  chromatin 
outward  towards  the  peripheral  nerve  endings  in  the 
retina,  in  connection  with  processes  involving  not 
merely  the  expenditure  of  the  chromatin  but  also  its 
creation.  The  linin  likewise  after  treatment  shows  a 
granular  structure,  and  seems  similar  in  composition 
to  the  cytoplasmic  reticulum.  The  quantity  of 
chromatin  in  a  nucleus  is  not  constant,  for  the  granules 
are  capable  of  assimilation,  growth,  and  division.  In 
the  processes  connected  with  cell  division  and  fertilisa- 
tion they  aggregate  into  little  rod-like  bodies  known 
as  chromosomes,  and  the  longitudinal  division  of  a 
chromosome  involves  the  actual  splitting  of  its  com- 
ponent granules.  The  number  of  chromosomes  is 
constant  for  each  species,^  and  they  are  now  regarded 
by  many  as  vehicles  of  inheritance.  That  they  alone 
function  in  this  way  may  be  doubted.  So  close  is  the 
intercourse  between  nucleus  and  cytoplasm  that  it  is 
difficult  to  deny  to  the  latter  certain  character- 
determining  qualities.  Indeed,  it  is  probable  that 
while  racial  characters  are  associated  with  the  cyto- 
plasm, individual  characters  are  more  immediately 
concerned  with  the  chromosomes,  being  represented 
there,  possibly  by  specific  entities. 

It  is  still  a  matter  of  considerable  doubt  whether 
the  chromatin  granules  of  the  reticulum  are  individually 
identical  with  those  that  constitute  the  chromosomes. 
This  quest  of  the  biological  ultimate  becomes  more 
complicated  when  we  further  inquire  into  the  relation 
of  chromatin  granules  to  the  linin  network  not  merely 
of  the  nucleus  but  of  the  cytoplasm.  For  some  recent 
research  has  tended  to  confirm  van  Beneden's  con- 
clusion, reached  already  in  1883,  that  the  chromatin 
network    of   the    nucleus,   the    cytoplasmic    reticulum, 

^  e.g.  man  32,  mouse  and  lily  24,  etc. 
72 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

and  even  the  nuclear  membrane,  are  all  alike  built 
up  out  of  granules  united  by  connective  substance, 
and  that  even  the  chromatin  granules  may  be  trans- 
formed into  achromatic,  and  vice  versa.  The  sole 
limitation  appears  to  be  the  restriction  of  the  chromatic 
granules  ordinarily  to  the  nucleus,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  linin  network  of  the  nucleus  appears  to 
have  the  same  granular  structure  as  the  cytoplasmic 
reticulum,  and  the  nuclear  membrane  appears  to 
originate  in  a  condensation  or  felting  of  the  same 
substance.  Can  we  then  associate  these  granules  with 
the  ultimate  units  of  life  ?  Yes  and  No.  Yes,  in  the 
sense  that  such  a  chromatin  granule  associated  with 
short  filaments  radiating  from  its  core,  supported 
and  extended  by  a  unit  mass  of  nucleoplasm,^  affords 
us  a  theoretic  unit  capable  of  growth  and  division  in 
its  particular  environment — incapable,  however,  of  an 
extravital  existence.  No,  in  the  double  sense  that 
on  the  one  hand  we  can  hardly  suppose  that  the 
ultimate  units  of  living  matter  happen  to  coincide 
with  the  revelations  of  the  most  powerful  microscope 
of  the  twentieth  century ;  and  that  on  the  other  hand 
if  we  insist  on  independent  existence  in  a  purely 
physical  environment  such  a  suggested  unit  fails  to 
respond  to  the  criterion.  We  must  obviously,  therefore, 
look  to  our  terminology.  Possibly,  in  a  more  restricted 
sense  some  of  these  elements  of  protoplasm  might  be 
spoken  of  as  "  living."  Under  certain  conditions  the 
line  between  the  living  and  the  dead  cannot  be  sharply 
drawn.  "  In  its  fullest  meaning,  however,"  says  Wilson,^ 
"  the  word  '  living '  implies  the  existence  of  a  group 
of  co-operating  activities  more  complex  than  those 
manifested  by  any  one  substance  or  structural  element. 

^  Bernard,  op.  cit.  p.  lo. 

2  E.  B.  Wilson,  The  Cell  in  Developinent  and  Inheritance,  p.  29. 

73 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 


Life,  perhaps,  should  only  properly  be  regarded  as 
a  property  of  the  cell-system  as  a  whole,  and  we  do 
better  to  designate  the  separate  elements  as  '  active ' 
and  '  passive '  rather  than  as  '  living '  or  '  lifeless.'  " 
The  enucleated  cell  cannot  reproduce :  in  the  absence 


"V" 


A 


Fig.  3. 

A.  The  chromidial  unit  as  a  mass  of  chromatin  with  linin  threads,  which 

are  at  the  same  time  nervous,  contractile,  and  synthetic.  The  waste 
matters  of  its  chemical  reactions,  carried  out  from  the  central  mass 
along  the  linin  threads,  are  deposited  as  a  pellicle  at  the  surface  of  the 
fluid  mass  in  which  the  whole  is  embedded.  The  tips  of  the  linin 
filaments  project  slightly  beyond  the  pellicle  as  nerves. 

B.  Diagram  illustrating  the  division  of  the  unit ;  the  linin  threads  in  or 

near  the  plane  of  division  split  longitudinally,  while  those  in  or  near 
the  plane  joining  the  centres  of  the  daughter  units  simply  lengthen  out. 

C.  An    optical   section   of  the   three-dimensional   network  which   would 

result  from  repeated  incomplete  divisions  of  such  a  chromidial  unit ; 
the  chromatin  masses  divide  completely,  but  the  linin  threads,  though 
they  lengthen  and  split,  are  never  ruptured. 

(From  H.  M.  Bernard's  Some  Neglected  Factors  in  Evolution.) 

of  nuclear  material  all  synthetic  metabolism  is  at  an 
end.  Strictly,  therefore,  such  a  cell  is  not  living, 
although  for  a  short  time  any  small  portion  of  it 
even  may  still  show  characteristics  of  life,  e.g.  irritability, 
and  other  destructive  aspects  of  metabolism.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  fragments   of  a   unicellular   organism 

74 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

that  contain  the  nucleus  or  a  part  of  the  nucleus 
can  re-acquire  the  specific  form  in  time.  Although 
the  cell  is  ordinarily  taken  as  the  unit  of  life  it 
becomes  increasingly  difficult  to  maintain  any  thorough- 
going cell  doctrine.  The  reproduction  of  amoeba 
through  fragmentation  and  conjugation  of  the  units 
raises  the  problem  of  the  One  and  the  Many  in  a 
bewildering  fashion,  and  puts  limits  to  the  description  of 
that  and  other  types  as  unicellular  forms.  Not  merely 
the  study  of  the  intimate  structure  of  protoplasm  but 
also  of  the  types  of  Protozoa  with  a  so-called  distributed 
nucleus,  in  some  cases  of  which  an  actual  clustering 
is  noticeable  at  a  certain  stage,  and  many  other  data  ^ 
suggest  such  a  precellular  unit  termed  by  Bernard 
the  chromidial  unit,  by  the  continued  division  of  which 
with  the  later  concentration  and  differentiation  of  the 
various  massed  elements,  the  typical  cell  is  ultimately 
formed.  This  points  to  the  cell  as  being  "  primarily  a 
continuous  linin-chromatic  network  with  a  differentiated 
centre  which  is  a  storehouse  for  chromatin,  the  whole 
being  embedded  in  an  albuminous  semi-fluid  matrix."  ^ 
The  concentration  of  chromatin  in  the  matted  tangle 
of  the  nucleus  with  the  corresponding  felting  of  the 
filaments  must  have  led  to  greater  efficiency  and 
co-ordination  in  response  to  the  environmental  stimuli, 
increased  facility  in  the  despatch  and  localisation  of 
chromatin  at  points  where  expenditure  of  energy  was 
demanded,  and  the  opening  up  of  possibilities  of 
differentiation  in  the  filaments  as  nervous  and  muscular 
elements  such  as  could  not  be  obtained  in  a  simple 
continuum  of  chromidial  units.  The  chromatin  is 
associated  with  the  energy  transformations  and  may 
be   thought  of  as  the  seat  of  chemical   activity :   the 

1  Cf.  e.g.  H.  M.  Bernard,  Sludies  in  Retina,  QJ.M.S.,  vols.  43-47. 

2  Bernard,  op.  cit.  p.  32. 

75 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

linin  filaments  are  primitively  contractile,  nervous  and 
synthetic  in  function,  and  would  regionally  become 
increasingly  differentiated  along  these  lines.  Thus  cilia 
find  a  sufficient  explanation  as  terminal  extensions  of 
the  originally  uniformly  distributed  linin-chromatin 
network,  while  even  the  organisation  of  by-products 
like  protozoan  shells  suggests  by  their  radial  structure 
an  intimate  connection  with  the  linin  filaments  in 
their  synthetic  activity. 

The  demonstration  of  intracellular  units  of  a  lower 
order  has  an  interesting  bearing  upon  biological  theory. 
Altmann's  granular  theory  of  the  constitution  of 
protoplasm,  ill-founded  as  it  apparently  was  in  relation 
to  his  own  investigations,  regarded  protoplasm  as  a 
colony  of  more  elementary,  extremely  minute  units 
which  he  called  bioblasts.  In  a  real  measure  these 
chromidia,  evidencing  assimilation,  growth,  and  division,^ 
correspond  to  Altmann's  theoretical  units  with  this 
immense  advantage  that  in  the  linin  filaments  they 
have  a  means  of  communication  with  one  another. 
They  invite  consideration  as  more  elementary  in- 
dividuals than  the  cell,  standing  between  the  latter 
and  the  ultimate  molecule  of  living  matter.  Herbert 
Spencer's  "  physiological  units,"  Darwin's  "  gemmules," 
and  Weismann's  "  biophors,"  all  hitherto  hypothetical 
units,  playing  the  principal  part  in  the  theories  of 
regeneration,  development,  and  heredity  associated 
with  these  great  names,  would  thus  appear  to  correspond 
to  a  reality. 

(7)  The  nucleoli,  rounded  irregular  bodies  composed 
of  a  protein  substance  markedly  different  from 
chromatin.      They  are,   however,  very  varied    both    in 

^  This  is  strictly  true  of  the  chromatin  granules,  and  the  chromidial  unit 
as  suggested  by  Bernard  seems  phylogenetically  probable  and  may  even 
yet  be  found  represented  amongst  micrococci. 

76 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

structure  and  character,  and  in  some  instances,  at  any 
rate,  are  possibly  a  source  of  chromatin  supply  for  the 
nucleus.  They  stain  deeply,  giving  reactions  similar 
to  those  presented  by  the  fibrillar  network. 

(S)  The  nuclear  sap  or  ground  substance  occupying 
the  interstices  of  the  network,  and  apparently  unaffected 
by  many  of  the  stains  that  act  on  the  chromatin.  It 
is  clear,  highly  refractive,  and  essentially  liquid.  Its 
functions  in  relation  to  the  maintenance  of  turgescence 
and  as  a  support  to  the  linin-chromatin  network,  quite 
apart  from  all  questions  of  chemical  interchange,  are 
highly  important. 

A  third  element  of  the  cell  is  the  peculiar  little 
centrosome  first  definitely  discovered  by  van  Beneden 
in  1885,  which  as  the  special  organ  of  cell  division 
is  often  regarded  as  the  dynamic  centre  of  the  cell. 
It  commonly  lies  outside  the  nucleus,  although  close  to 
it,  sometimes,  however,  inside  {Ascaris  univalens).  It 
may  be  surrounded  either  by  a  radiating  area  of  the 
cytoreticulum,  termed  the  attraction  sphere  or  centro- 
sphere ;  or  by  an  area  of  protoplasm  denser  than  the 
rest  of  the  cytoplasm  (archoplasm).  Sometimes  in 
the  vegetative  stage  it  lies  unattended  by  any  differ- 
entiated matter,  and  is  then  often  very  difficult  to 
demonstrate.  Typically  the  centrosome,  which  stains 
deeply  and  resembles  a  chromatin  granule,  is  a  single 
organ ;  but  as  a  rule  dividing  cells  show  a  double 
centrosome  due  to  anticipation  of  the  succeeding 
division  in  which  each  of  the  daughter  cells  receives 
one  of  them.  The  failure  to  substantiate  its  presence 
in  the  case  of  the  cells  of  many  of  the  higher  plants, 
and  the  fact  that  in  some  instances  at  the  close  of  cell 
division,  or  during  fertilisation  in  animals,  it  disappears 
entirely  to  appear  again  de  novo,  rather  militate 
against     the    earlier    view     of    its     indispensable    and 

77 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

dominant  function  as  an  organ,  although  as  a  locus  of 
specific  chemical  stimulation  something  undoubtedly 
exists.  At  the  same  time  in  the  majority  of  cases  as 
an  organ  that  assimilates,  grows,  divides,  and  is  in 
many  cases  passed  on  from  cell  to  cell,  it  also  answers 
to  the  conception  of  an  intracellular  unit  of  in- 
dependent existence.  It  is  essentially  a  centre  of 
determining  activity,  and  it  seems  to  finally  disappear 
with  the  loss  of  the  power  of  reproduction. 

With  regard  to  the  cell  wall  or  membrane,  we  now 
know,  unlike  the  earliest  observers,  that  its  importance 
is  secondary.  It  is  more  characteristic  of  plant  than 
of  animal  tissues.  In  the  former  case  it  has  a  more  or 
less  firm  consistency,  and  is  often  of  considerable 
thickness :  on  the  other  hand,  many  animal  cells,  e.g, 
rhizopods  and  leucocytes,  are  "  naked,"  although  even 
here  some  difference  in  consistency  can  be  established 
between  the  outermost  layer  of  the  cytoplasm  and  that 
immediately  beneath  it.  Where  a  definite  membrane 
or  skeletal  structure  occurs,  it  may  arise  either  as  a 
secretion  product,  probably  in  direct  association  with 
the  linin  filaments  of  the  network  along  which  the 
transformed  substances  pass,  or  as  a  direct  physical 
and  chemical  transformation  of  the  peripheral  layer 
of  protoplasm,  also  under  the  influence  of  the  original 
chromatin-linin  network. 

Hitherto  we  have  regarded  the  cell  as  an  in- 
dependent organism,  as  an  organic  unit.  Actually, 
however,  it  is  such  only  in  the  case  of  unicellular 
organisms  and  the  germ-cells  of  multicellular  forms. 
When  we  consider  other  cells,  e.g.  the  tissue-cells  of 
the  higher  creatures,  we  see  that  in  point  of  origin 
and  structure,  Le.  morphologically,  they  are  equivalent 
to  a  collection  of  unicellular  organisms,  but  physio- 
logically   the    tissue-cell    can    hardly  be    regarded    as 

78 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

independent,  inasmuch  as  its  activity  is  part  and 
parcel  of  that  of  the  organism — "its  autonomy,"  to 
use  Wilson's  phrase,  "  is  merged  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree  into  the  general  life  of  the  organism."  ^ 

Now,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  engrossing 
problem  than  that  of  the  co-ordination  of  the  in- 
dividual cell  activities.  What  is  this  organic  unity  of 
the  body,  and  how  is  it  maintained  ?  The  older 
workers  thought  of  the  organism  as  a  composite,  a 
mosaic,  whose  life  was  simply  the  sum  of  the  life  of  its 
independent,  yet  reciprocating  parts.  But  it  becomes 
increasingly  clear  that  so  far  as  growth  and  develop- 
ment are  concerned,  cells  can  only  be  regarded  as 
co-operative  units  in  a  limited  degree.  "  They  are 
rather,"  says  Wilson,  "  local  centres  of  a  formative 
power  pervading  the  growing  mass  as  a  whole,  and  the 
physiological  autonomy  of  the  individual  cell  falls  into 
the  background."  ^  No  true  conception  of  the  life  of  a 
multicellular  organism  is  gained  except  in  so  far  as 
that  life  is  conceived  of  as  a  whole,  untrammelled  by 
cell  boundaries.  Doubtless  it  expresses  itself  in  many 
ways,  particularly  in  the  form  of  the  cell,  thereby 
giving  to  itself  an  apparently  composite  character. 
But  in  reality  this  mosaic-like  character  is  due  to  the 
secondary  distribution  of  the  organism's  energy  among 
local  centres  of  action.  This  distribution  follows  the 
lines  of  linin-filamentous  connection  between  the  cells 
of  any  multicellular  organism.  Delicate  intercellular 
bridges  of  protoplasm  are  demonstrable  in  many  cases 
between  the  individual  cells  of  plant  and  animal  tissue 
{e.g.  the  epidermis  in  particular),  but  when  the  relation 
of  the  cell  to  its  precellular  units  is  realised,  the  close 
connection  of  the  units  in  a  multicellular  organism  is 
seen  to  follow  as  the  necessary  result  of  divisions  of  a 

1  op.  cit.  p.  58.  2  Qp^  cit.  p.  59. 

79 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

linin-chromatin  network,  the  chromatin  elements  in 
which  undoubtedly  are  grouped  together  as  the 
daughter  nuclei,  while  the  linin  elements  are  forced  to 
remain  in  some  degree  in  organic  continuity.^ 

The  problem  is  very  much  the  problem  of  the  cell 
and  its  enzymes  repeated  on  a  larger  scale.  There, 
as  we  shall  see,  the  question  is  how  the  cell  links 
together,  and  co-ordinates  the  activities  of  various 
substances  within  it,  each  of  them  with  its  specific 
industry,  so  to  speak.  In  the  higher  animals  and 
plants  the  different  tissues  retain  in  varying  capacities 
vestiges  of  the  primitive  power  of  altering  their 
function :  ^  under  normal  conditions  they  behave 
according  to  their  specific  character.  But  evidently 
there  is  some  restraining  influence  that  limits  and 
regulates  the  activity  of  any  particular  cell,  or 
group  of  cells,  in  relation  to  the  other  cells  of  the 
organism. 

4.  A  further  characteristic  of  living  things  is 
irritability,  by  which  is  understood  the  capacity  for 
response  or  reaction  to  stimulus.  Life,  in  fact, 
resolves  itself  into  the  science  of  response, — response 
to  various  external  and  internal  stimuli, — simple  at 
first  in  the  case  of  the  lower  forms,  but  infinitely 
complex  in  the  higher  forms,  embracing  in  the  last 
instance  all  that  is  implied  in  the  word  "  education  "  : 
the  unresponsive  is  the  dead,  that  peculiar  condition 
in  which  the  capacity  for  response  is  gone. 

Now,  in  all  applications  of  stimuli  to  living  matter, 
what  we  see,  as  a  direct  consequence,  is  a  series  of 
very  complex  phenomena  due  to  the   fact  that  these 

1  Cf.  H.  M.  Bernard,  op.  cit.  pp.  85,  95. 

2  One  modern  explanation  of  cancerous  growth  regards  it  as  an  assertion 
of  this  primitive  independence  ;  the  cells  function  in  an  unusual  way  under 
certain  special  conditions,— excessive  multiplication,  possibly  due  to  super- 
fluity of  chromatin. 

80 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

stimuli  have  affected  an  exceedingly  complex  object 
in  the  organism  upon  which  they  act.  When  these 
phenomena  of  irritability,  as  exemplified,  say,  in  a 
protozoon,  are  analysed,  we  find  a  series  of  specific 
capacities  for  response  which  have  been  styled  tactisms. 
Parameciu^n  is  sensitive  to  light  in  that  it  moves 
towards  it ;  it  is  therefore  positively  phototactic. 
Irritability,  then,  usually  expresses  itself  in  some  form 
of  movement  of  the  organic  mass,  which  has  often  led 
to  this  feature  being  set  down  as  a  characteristic  of 
living  matter ;  but  while  every  response  need  not 
necessarily  be  in  the  form  of  obvious  movement, — 
the  energy  liberated  may  take  some  other  form,  e.g. 
heat,  or  light  as  in  the  case  of  the  firefly, — on  the  other 
hand,  in  many  cases  of  apparently  spontaneous  move- 
ment, the  cause  is  to  be  found  in  internal  changes 
rather  than  in  the  external  environment.  It  is 
essentially  a  liberation  of  energy — the  transformation 
of  potential  into  kinetic  energy,  and  this  commonly 
shows  itself  in  movement. 

The  expression  of  this  irritability  was  almost 
certainly  originally  associated  with  the  linin  elements 
in  the  protoplasmic  reticulum.  For  irritability  is  as 
marked  in  protozoon  and  sponge  as  in  the  higher 
forms  of  life,  and  the  only  structure  through  which  a 
response  could  be  given  in  default  of  anything 
comparable  to  a  nervous  system  is  the  linin  reticulum, 
which  is  contractile  and  capable  of  transferring  stimuli 
— a  primitive  undifferentiated  nervous  tract.  That 
this  original  network  underwent  differentiation  in 
connection  with  other  elementary  functions^  did  not 
hinder  certain  portions  and  tracts  developing  as  a 
nervous  system  in  complexity  proportionate  to  that  of 

1  For  the  detailed  proof  of  this  statement,  reference  should  be  made  to 
Bernard,  op.  cit.,  chap.  xi. 

F  8l 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

the  organism  as  a  whole.  Such  specialisation  of  tissue 
for  other  functions  would  necessarily  involve  the 
inhibition  and  decline  of  the  original  elementarily- 
nervous  character  of  the  reticulum  in  these  regions. 

In  the  case  of  the  higher  animals  and  plants,  the 
distinctive  elements  of  irritability,  studied  singly  as 
tactisms  in  the  case  of  unicellular  forms,  may  function 
in  a  specific  way  in  the  parts  of  a  multicellular  organ- 
ism, giving  rise  to  movements  known  as  tropisms : 
thus  a  characteristic  turning  towards  the  sun  gives  its 
name  to  the  flower  heliotrope.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  many  movements  of  animals  and  attitudes  of 
plants  depend  upon  mechanisms  that  are  "  a  function 
of  the  symmetrical  structure  and  symmetrical  distribu- 
tion of  irritability  on  the  surface  of  the  body  of  the 
organisms."  ^  This  involves  the  assumption  that 
symmetrical  points  on  the  surface  of  an  animal  pos- 
sess corresponding  degrees  of  irritability.  If,  then, 
lines  of  force  {e.g.  light  rays,  gravitation  lines,  lines 
of  diffusion)  strike  an  organism  with  greater  profusion 
on  one  side  than  on  another,  the  tension  of  the 
contractile  elements  is  unequal,  and  if  the  animal 
moves,  it  will  tend  to  turn  in  such  a  direction  that 
the  lines  of  force  impinge  with  equal  density  at 
symmetrical  points,  and  at  the  same  angle  on  both 
sides,  and  it  will  continue  to  move  in  that  direction,  or 
away  from  it,  according  as  it  is  apparently  attracted 
or  repelled.  Such  automatic  orientation  in  a  field 
of  force  toward  or  away  from  the  centre  of  force  con- 
stitutes the  so-called  tropism.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  not 
curiosity,  or  love  of  light,  that  makes  the  moth  fly  to 
the  candle  flame,  but  the  compelling  power  of  the 
light  in  turning  the  creature's  head  towards  it.  This 
line  of  interpretation,  however,  has  been  shown  to  be 

^  J.  Loeb,  The  Dynamics  of  Living  Matter.^  p.  5. 
82 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

insufficient    in    the    case    of   humbler    forms/    and    is 
probably  not  less  so  here. 

The  external  stimuli  which  act  upon  the  world  of 
life  are  manifold,  being  thermal,  luminous,  chemi- 
cal, etc.,  in  character.  The  reaction  of  an  organism 
is,  then,  simply  its  response  to  the  particular  stimulus 
applied  to  it.  The  experience  of  everyday  life  is 
sufficient  to  show  us  that  under  the  same  stimulus 
that  reaction  will  vary  considerably  with  different 
individuals.  In  fact,  the  same  stimulus  may  produce 
totally  different  effects  on  differently  constituted 
objects.  A  kick  elicits  a  different  response  in  the  case 
of  a  stone,  a  bulldog,  and  a  Skye  terrier :  under 
electrical  stimulation  the  salivary  gland  yields  its 
saliva,  the  liver  its  bile.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not 
so  obvious  at  first  sight  that  very  different  stimuli 
will  but  produce  identical  effects  upon  the  same 
protoplasmic  body.  Yet  apply  to  a  muscle  cell 
electrical,  chemical,  in  short,  any  possible  form  of 
stimulus :  it  has  but  one  answer — it  contracts.  The 
same  holds  good  for  many  Protozoa :  they  have  but 
a  single  characteristic  response  to  all  kinds  of  stimuli. 
We  have  thought  of  the  stimulus  as  exciting  or  even 
producing  an  increase  of  the  specific  activity  in  various 
forms  of  living  substance:  its  action  may,  however, 
also  result  in  a  diminution  of  that  characteristic  activity. 
Irritability  is  considered  to  be  a  fundamental  property 
of  living  protoplasm,  but  it  expresses  itself  in  specific 
actions,  according  to  the  specific  structure  of  the 
organism,  under  the  influence  of  the  external  world. 

With  this    fundamental    property   of  irritability,   of 
which  certain  other  properties  of  protoplasm  are  ulti- 
mately but  different  specific  expressions,  may  be  con- 
sidered the  characteristic  of  insusceptibility  in  varying 
1  Cf.  p.  301. 
83 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

degrees,  or  functional  inertia — to  use  the  term  proposed 
by  Harris.^  By  this  is  meant  not  merely  the  relation- 
ships of  living  matter  to  stimuli  in  which  it  shows  no 
response,  but  also  those  states  in  which  it  continues  to 
respond  specifically  after  the  stimulus  has  ceased  to 
act,  or  an  inhibitory  stimulus  has  been  applied.  Life 
is  not  in  tissue,  organ,  organism,  or  even  society  a  con- 
tinuous march,  due  to  everlasting  response  to  unceasing 
stimuli,  such  as  it  would  be  if  irritability  alone  were 
characteristic  of  living  things.  We  are  aware  of  limits 
of  stimulation,  of  calculable  pauses  till  the  effect  of  the 
stimulus  is  seen,  of  a  not  uncommon  lack  of  corre- 
spondence between  stimuli  and  responses,  of  certain 
protoplasmic  activities  apparently  spontaneous  and 
automatic  in  their  persistence  under  conditions  that 
united  almost  tend  to  suppress  them.  Thus,  in  a 
sense,  at  any  moment  the  expression  of  an  organism's 
life  is  the  resultant  of  these  antagonistic  properties  of 
irritability  and  functional  inertia  which  are  present  in 
varying  and  characteristic  degrees.  The  presence  of 
this  biological  inertia  lies  rather  in  non-correspondence 
with  the  environment  of  impinging  stimuli. 

Of  the  various  phenomena  expressive  of  this  inertia 
those  that  illustrate  a  "  latent  period "  between  the 
application  of  a  stimulus  and  the  appearance  of  the 
resulting  response  are  the  most  general  and  the  best 
adapted  to  demonstration.  They  are  observable  in  the 
Protozoa,  characteristic  of  muscle,  nerve,  and  other 
tissue  in  higher  forms,  and  are  peculiarly  striking  in 
certain  vegetable  protoplasmic  reactions.  This  "physio- 
logical lost  time  "  permits  of  definite  calculation,  giving 
thus  in  some  degree  a  measurement  of  the  inertia. 
Again,  lack  of  correspondence  between  constant  stimuli 
and  response  appears  in  the  form  of  rhythmic  move- 

*  D.  F.  Harris,  The  Functional  Inertia  of  Living  Matter. 

84 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

ments  seen  e.g.  in  connection  with  the  respiratory- 
centres,  and  this  seems  best  explained  in  terms  of 
protoplasmic  inertia  and  susceptibility.  In  the  case  of 
a  dry  seed  we  may  consider  its  inertia  to  be  at  a 
maximum  for  any  given  stimulus,  although  it  may  be 
overcome  by  a  definite  combination  of  them.  In  thosp 
cases  where  specific  action  persists  after  cessation  of 
the  stimulus,  and  even  in  local  post-mortem  growth, 
we  have  phenomena  comparable  to  the  continued 
swinging  of  a  gate  after  a  push,  which  point  to  a 
functional  inertia  in  living  matter.  When  we  widen 
our  range  and  consider  individual  and  racial  character- 
istics, we  may  see  in  heredity  the  broadest  expression 
of  this  functional  inertia,  displaying  itself  in  physical 
and  psychical  realms  alike.  Habit  and  instinct  owe 
their  existence  to  such  inertia :  in  it  are  some  main- 
springs of  character.  How  far  this  characteristic  of 
living  organisms  is  directly  connected  with  any 
similar  property  of  the  ultimate  molecules  of  living 
matter  is  a  question  upon  which  as  yet  we  have  not 
sufficient  data  to  come  to  a  certain  conclusion.  When 
confined  to  the  physical  aspects  of  protoplasm  we 
have  an  explanation  that  is  within  the  range  of  proba- 
bility. But  to  state  in  particular  as  Harris  does  ^ 
that  "  mind  has  inertia  because  cerebral  protoplasm  has 
inertia,  and  cerebral  protoplasm  has  inertia  in  common 
with  the  lowliest  fraction  of  living  matter  "  is  to  offer 
an  explanation  in  terms  of  a  causal  relation  between 
matter  and  mind  that  is  not  warranted  by  any  facts  at 
our  command. 

^  op.  cit,  p.  %(>. 


85 


CHAPTER    IV 

PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY  {contmued) 

5.  All  living  things  are  further  characterised  by 
continual  change,  physical  and  chemical,  of  the  material 
composing  the  body  in  every  part.  Certain  parts  are 
being  continually  used  up,  and  fresh  material  is  brought 
in  and  built  up  into  its  place.  This  ceaseless  internal 
cycle  of  supply  and  waste,  waste  and  supply,  is  desig- 
nated by  the  term,  metabolism.  The  living  organism 
is  as  a  flame  that,  fed  with  oil,  preserves  its  outward 
form,  yet  all  the  while  the  substance  by  which  the 
flame  is  fed  is  being  decomposed  into  its  constituent 
elements  and  passes  off  transformed.  Biology,  apart 
from  Morphology,  knows  no  statics.  Nutrition  and 
digestion,  respiration  and  circulation,  secretion  and 
excretion,  are  various  phases  of  this  comprehensive 
activity.  In  order  to  live,  the  cell  must  absorb  nutrient 
substances  which  it  proceeds  to  elaborate,  retaining 
some  portions  within  its  body,  and  rejecting  others. 
Continually  in  the  living  cell  substances  of  complex 
molecular — and  in  that  measure  unstable — structure  are 
being  built  up  from  substances  less  complex  and  more 
stable,  with  the  absorption  of  energy  :  concurrently,  other 
substances — food  reserves,  or  the  protoplasm  itself — are 
being  broken  down  in  order  to  provide  the  energy 
required.  The  more  intense  the  life,  the  more  compre- 
hensive are  those  parallel  processes  of  construction  and 
destruction.!    And  yet  if  parallel,  they  are  hardly  equal. 

*  Or,  more  technically,  anabolism  and  kalabolism. 

86 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

In  the  period  of  youth  the  constructive  is  in  excess  of 
the  destructive,  and  we  say  the  organism  grows. 

Now,  all  living  things  grow  in  a  sense  that  is   not 
predicable  of  other  objects  to  which  the  word  may  be 
applied.      For  in  the  saturated  solution  of  salt  or  alum 
the  crystal  grows  by  accretion — particles  are  added  on 
the    outside,  layer  by  layer:    living    things    grow    by 
taking    up    particles    of    matter    in    between    already 
existing  particles   at    every  point — interstitial   growth. 
Further,  the  crystal  grows  by  adding  to  itself  particles 
of  the  same  matter  as  itself — particles  that  it  takes  up, 
already  existing,  out  of  the  fluid  around  it;  whereas 
the   living  thing    makes   the    materials    of  its    growth, 
manufacturing    particles    like    itself    out    of    material 
different  from  itself,  which  it  then  uses  for  growth — by 
assimilation.     The  ciliate  protozoon,  Paramecium  caud., 
if  kept  in  a  hay  infusion  at  a  definite  temperature,  will 
grow  and  reproduce  by  binary  fission  at  a  definite  rate. 
This  growth  and  reproduction  are  accomplished  at  the 
expense  of  elements  in  the  medium  which  are  trans- 
formed   into    Paramecium :    at   the    same    time    other 
substances  appear  in  the  medium  which  are  the  waste 
from  the  growth  process.      If  we  call  these  last  d,  and 
let  a  represent  the    material    that  goes  to   form  new 
Paramecium,  then  P  +  ^  =  /^P  +  ^.     This  growth  formula 
may  be  instructively  compared  with  that  of  any  purely 
chemical  equation,  with  the  result  that  a  striking  differ- 
ence is  noticeable.      In  the  case  of  an  effective  chemical 
reaction  between  different  compounds,  the  result  will 
be  found  to  be  of  the  general  character  A  ~f-  B  =  C  +  D, 
i.e.  different  substances  are  found  in  the  two  terms  {e.g. 
Zn  +  H2SO4  =  ZnS04  +  Yi^}      In  the  former  equation 

^  This  statement  excludes  the  phenomena  of  catalysis,  between  which 
and  some  aspects  of  metabolism  a  certain  measure  of  analogy  may  be 
traced.     Cf.  pp.  89,  90. 

87 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

the  fact  that  P  appears  on  either  side  constitutes  a  veiled 
expression  of  a  characteristic  of  life :  that  it  occurs  in 
a  greatly  increased  quantity  indicates  the  amount  of 
growth.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  this  formula 
represents  but  half  of  what  is  actually  in  progress ;  for 
at  the  same  time  other  processes  of  a  contrary  or 
destructive  character  are  in  operation,  and  the  organism 
is  alive  only  so  long  as  they  do  not  gain  the  ascendency 
over  the  assimilative  activities. 

From  the  work  of  destruction,  which  may  involve 
the  breaking  up  of  complex  substances  into  simpler 
ones,  or  their  combination  with  oxygen,  various  final 
products  arise,  some  useful  to  the  organism,  e.g.  bile, 
others  not  so  useful,  or  positively  harmful,  as  urea, 
carbon  dioxide,  and  mineral  salts.  In  the  case  of 
animals  the  whole  of  their  energy  is  derived  from 
waste ;  in  plants  only  a  small  part  is  thus  derived,  the 
rest  being  obtained  from  sunlight.  The  metabolic 
processes  that  are  going  on  in  any  higher  organism, 
plant  or  animal,  are  manifold  in  the  extreme,  and  even 
in  the  case  of  unicellular  forms  our  understanding  of 
them  is  far  from  complete.  At  the  same  time  the 
unity  of  the  entire  organic  kingdom  is  well  illustrated 
in  a  restricted  series  of  fundamental  metabolic  processes 
which  are  common  to  every  living  thing. 

(a)  Every  plant  and  animal  respires,  i.e.  it  takes  up 
oxygen  from  its  environment,  whereby  it  oxidises  the 
carbo-hydrates  and  albuminous  substances  of  its  own 
body,  producing  as  final  products  carbon  dioxide  and 
water.  Oxidation  in  living  matter  is  however  a  much 
more  complicated  process  than  the  simple  chemical 
activity  ordinarily  expressed  by  the  term :  there  is 
much  in  it  that  is  physical  as  well. 

{b)  The  food  materials  of  all  living  organisms,  plant 
and    animal   alike,   are    originally   prepared    from    the 

88 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

inorganic  world  through  the  instrumentality  of  chloro- 
plasts.  Further,  while  it  is  true  that  growing  plants 
are  able  to  live  on  simpler  compounds  than  animals, 
yet  a  study  of  the  development  of  the  embryo  in  the 
seed  1  shows  it  to  be  without  the  adult  capacity,  and 
dependent  on  manufactured  carbo-hydrates,  proteins, 
and  fats,  as  in  the  case  of  animals.  The  differences 
relating  to  the  mode  of  supply  in  the  case  of  the  two 
kingdoms  are  ultimately  referable  to  differences  in  the 
cell  structure.  The  exaggerated  development  of  the 
vegetable  cell-wall  prevents  the  ingestion  of  solid 
material. 

{c)  In  both  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  char- 
acteristic, and  in  some  instances  corresponding,  sub- 
stances make  their  appearance  during  metabolism,  and 
play  a  very  important  regulative  part,  not  merely  in 
the  constructive  process  but  also  in  the  breaking  up  of 
reserves  and  in  excretion.  These  substances,  e.g. 
diastase  in  plants  and  ptyalin  in  saliva,^  are  known  as 
enzymes  and  are  marked  by  very  distinctive  features. 
Thus  in  the  course  of  their  activities  they  undergo  no 
change  in  themselves.  They  do  work  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  their  quantity,  without  leaving  a  trace  of  their 
own  substance  in  the  products  of  their  activity.  Such 
characters  invite  comparison  with  the  catalytic  sub- 
stances of  pure  chemistry,  but  the  differences  are  no 
less  marked.  So  fundamental  is  the  action  of  these 
enzymes  that  there  is  a  very  true,  if  limited  sense,  in 
which  it  may  be  said  that  life  is  the  enzyme  (first 
degree)  of  enzymes  (second  degree).  The  evidence 
goes  to  show  that  some  kind  of  enzyme  is  at  the  basis 
of  every  functional  activity.     Digestion  is  due  in  part 

1  The  same  also  holds  true  of  growing  cells  in  a  young  stem  or  root. 

2  The  function  of  both  of  these  is  in  general  terms  to  change  starch  into 
sugar. 

89 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

to  the  action  of  pepsin  which  breaks  up  proteins. 
Respiration  is  only  achieved  through  the  presence  of 
oxidase,  which  seizes  the  oxygen  in  the  lungs,  and 
hands  it  over  to  the  red  corpuscles  of  the  blood.  Under 
certain  conditions — commonly  greater  condensation  of 
the  solution — the  action  of  some  enzymes  is  reversible, 
i.e.  they  can  put  together  again  what  they  have  taken 
apart,  and  there  are  others  that  devote  themselves 
solely  to  this  aspect  of  the  matter.  What  the  enzyme 
is  in  its  inner  nature  or  how  it  is  produced  is  still  un- 
known. Mostly  soluble  in  water  or  some  other  medium, 
and  colloidal  in  character,  they  prove  but  slightly 
resistant  to  heat.  Possibly  they  are  morphologically 
comparable  to  units  of  the  chromidial  or  even  pre- 
chromidial  days,  just  as  in  the  human  body  we  find 
survivals  of  the  unicellular  period  in  the  leucocytes  of 
the  blood.  Investigation  into  their  nature  proceeds 
apace,  and  marvellous  success  has  been  achieved  in 
some  instances  in  separating  and  instigating  them  to 
work  apart  from  the  living  environment  {e.g.  pepsin) : 
others  prove  as  yet  to  be  inseparable  from  the  living 
protoplasm. 

It  should,  however,  be  remembered  that  no  account 
of  enzyme-action,  however  complete,  does  in  the  least 
help  our  ultimate  account  of  life,  since  it  gives  us  no 
clue  to  the  characteristic  achievement  of  the  cell  in 
connecting,  co-ordinating,  and  regulating  these  various 
activities  that  take  place  within  it.  Not  merely  is  the 
enzyme  an  organic  production,  of  which  there  are 
sometimes  several  types  at  work  in  the  economy  of  a 
single  cell,  but,  unlike  the  ordinary  catalyser,  each 
enzyme  is  usually  only  able  to  act  in  its  specific  way 
upon  one  definite  type  of  molecular  arrangement,  while 
the  cell  as  an  energy  transformer  is  distinguished  by 
the    way   in    which    it    connects    the   varied    complex 

90 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

reactions  effected  by  these  enzymes  which  it  has  itself 
produced.      Accordingly,  to   consider  the  cell    activity 
as  simply  the   sum   of  its  varied  enzyme  activity,  is  to 
make  the  same  mistake  as  to  suppose  that  an  organism 
is  the  sum  of  its  organs.      It  is  to  offer  only  a  partial 
account  of  cell  life.      If  regard  were  had   merely  to  the 
action  of  the  enzymes,  the   interpretation    e.^:   in   the 
case  of  plant  life,  would  be  mainly  katabolic,  for  there 
is  as  yet  no  enzymic  account    of  the  building  up  of 
compounds   with  higher  chemical    potential,  which    is 
so  distinctive  a  feature  of  life.      The  study  of  enzymes 
is  the  study  of  isolated,  yet  highly  selective  activities ; 
each  enzyme  must  fit  its  substratum  like  lock  and  key 
or  the  reaction  does  not  occur.      But  the  characteristic 
of  the  Hving  cell  is  seen  not  merely  in  the  connecting 
of  one  reaction  with  another,  and   in  the  using  of  the 
free  energy  of  one   reaction  to  carry  on   another,  but 
also  in  the  actual  production   of  new  enzymes  to  cope 
with  new   situations.^      The  cell   initiates,    directs,  and 
co-ordinates   the  enzymic    activities,    but  in  the  more 
difficult  cases  of  metabolic  change,  as  in  the  conversion 
of  carbo-hydrates   into   fats,  or  of  COg  and   HgO   into 
organic  compounds,   energy   is   taken    up    from    other 
sources,  and  this  alone  the  cell  can   do.      "  This  is  the 
part  taken   by  the  living  cell,  which  in   one  oxidising 
action    obtains   free   energy,  and   in   an    accompanying 
reducing  action  stores  this  energy  up,  at   least   in  part, 
in   a   new   synthesised  body  at  a   higher  potential    of 
chemical  energy  than  that   from  which  it   came.      In 
this  process  enzymes  may  freely  be  used  by  the  cell, 
but     they    are    co-ordinated     and     regulated     in     the 
process."  2       All    this   fundamental    metabolic   activity, 
then,  is  in  some  way  controlled  for   the  good  of  the 

^  Czapek,  op.  cit.  p.  lOO. 

2  B.  Moore,  in  Recent  Advances  in  Physiology  and  Biochemistry,  p.  138. 

91 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

individual,  and  in  this  directed  control  we  have  a 
distinctive  character  of  life.  And  in  particular  aspects 
of  it,  e.g.  the  maintenance  of  body  temperature  in 
warm-blooded  vertebrates,  transfusion  of  materials 
through  cell  membranes,  there  is  a  regulation  of  process 
in  the  living  form  that  is  distinctive  in  the  sense  that 
it  does  not  entirely  conform  to  physical  practice  as 
known  under  purely  inorganic  conditions. 

{d)  As  the  result  of  these  metabolic  processes, 
corresponding  products  are  organised  in  the  plant  and 
animal  kingdoms,  e.g.  starch  in  plants  and  glycogen  in 
animals,  oxidases  and  trypsins  in  both. 

In  metabolism  there  are  three  great  stages  which 
may  each  be  characterised  by  a  single  word — Absorp- 
tion (of  new  material)  ;  Transformation  (in  the  interior 
of  the  protoplasm)  leading  to  Retention  and  Excretion. 
Protoplasm  is  found  capable  of  absorbing  or  excreting 
matter  either  in  a  gaseous,  fluid,  or  solid  condition. 

The  differences  between  Metazoa  and  Metaphyta 
are  based  on  broad  lines,  physiological  rather  than 
morphological.  Animal  and  plant  alike  in  virtue  of 
their  cell  structure  are  composed  of  that  fundamental 
linin-chromatic  network  whose  functions  are  synthetic, 
contractile,  and  nervous.  In  the  case  of  plants  the 
synthetic  function  has  dominated  the  other  two  in 
consequence  of  the  unique  way  in  which  they  obtain 
their  food  ;  in  fact,  the  primitive  contractile  and 
nervous  functions  of  the  plant  reticulum  have  shown 
no  advance.  As  a  result  all  the  organic  substance  in 
the  world  is  ultimately  created  by  plants  under  the 
influence  of  sunlight.  Animals,  so  far  from  creating, 
are  continually  destroying  organic  matter  and  re- 
solving it  again  into  its  original  components.  The 
food  of  plants  exists  in  a  gaseous  state  in  the  atmo- 
sphere, or   as    salts   in    solution    in  water :    it  requires 

92 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

therefore  no  preparation,  and  can  be  directly  absorbed 
by  the  surface  of  the  roots  and  leaves.  The  method 
of  feeding  is  almost  strictly  chemical.  But  the  food  of 
animals,  being  organic  matter,  is  usually  in  a  more 
or  less  solid  condition,  which  necessitates  the  presence 
of  an  internal  reservoir  in  which  the  food  can  be 
stored  until  it  is  reduced  to  a  more  or  less  liquid 
absorbable  condition.  That  is  to  say,  almost  all 
animals  require  a  stomach,  implying  the  development  of 
muscle  and  nerve,  and  in  the  case  of  the  Protozoa  the 
whole  creature  functions  as  such  for  the  time  being. 

Again,  the  food  of  plants  is  everywhere  present. 
Every  wind  that  blows  brings  food  to  the  leaves: 
rain-water  with  salts  in  solution  bathes  the  roots. 
Their  food-taking  is  essentially  passive.  Animals 
have  to  seek  their  food — it  does  not  usually  come  to 
them.  Hence  the  nature  of  animal  food  requires  that 
they  shall  have  a  definite  mouth,  a  digestive  tract, 
organs  to  carry  the  body  in  search  of  food,  organs  to 
seize  it  when  found,  and  definite  excretory  organs  to 
get  rid  of  the  waste.  Free  locomotion  in  the  case  of 
plants,  apart  from  the  Protophyta,  is  confined  tempo- 
rarily to  the  male  cells,  and  with  the  absence  of 
movement  the  function  of  sensation  is  at  a  minimum. 
Plants  and  animals  thus  differ  in  the  nature  of  their 
food,  yet  both  are  dependent  on  the  environment 
for  supply,  and  that  food  when  elaborated  into  "  the 
physical  basis  of  life"  by  contact  with  the  living 
body  shows  little  chemical  difference  as  animal  or 
vegetable  protoplasm. 

6.  All  living  things  exhibit  cyclical  phases  of 
activity  known  collectively  as  a  life-history,  in  which 
they  manifest  various  degrees  of  vitality,  sometimes 
with  accompanying  change  of  form.  Every  living 
creature,    unicellular    and     multicellular    alike,    passes 

93 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

through  a  regular  cycle  of  changes,  in  part  determined 
by  forces  within  itself,  to  which  there  is  nothing 
comparable  in  the  inorganic  realm.  In  the  case  of 
inorganic  matter  there  is  no  reason  why  the  same 
states  and  conditions  should  not  persist  or  recur. 
With  the  living  being  this  is  absolutely  impossible ; 
it  has  a  life-history,  and  such  development  precludes 
all  possibility  of  rest  or  of  the  exact  repetition  of 
similar  stages  and  conditions.  Indeed,  the  extra- 
ordinary changes  in  the  individual  should  make  it 
easy  to  believe  in  specific  changes.  Such  change  is 
the  mode  of  nature. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  a  period  of  youth  char- 
acterised in  both  cases  by  active  cell-proliferation  :  the 
constructive  (anabolic)  phase  of  metabolism  is  then  in 
excess  of  the  destructive  (katabolic),  and  the  creature 
grows.  This  is  followed  by  a  period  of  adolescence  in 
which,  although  at  first  the  two  phases  practically 
balance,  yet  the  energy  of  division  sooner  or  later 
diminishes,  and  is  accompanied  by  certain  morphological 
changes  in  the  cells  previous  to  fertilisation — that 
process  whereby  the  energy  for  division  is  renewed. 
This  in  turn — particularly  in  the  case  of  unicellular 
forms,  when  fertilisation  is  not  effected — is  succeeded 
by  the  period  of  old  age  in  which  destruction  slowly 
overtakes  construction,  and  eventually  the  organism 
dies.  The  unicellular  organism  dies  from  protoplasmic 
senile  degeneration  just  as  surely  as  does  the  multi- 
cellular form.  Now,  this  "  capacity  for  death  "  is  in  a 
sense  a  distinguishing  feature  of  living  things.  In  a 
very  real  way,  moreover,  death  is  the  servant  of  life, 
holding  the  balance  between  unlimited  reproduction  and 
limited  feeding  area.  To  it  is  due  the  circumstance 
that  life  is  periodic  in  appearance :  the  recurrence  of 
the  living  individual  is  a  phenomenon   unique  in  the 

94 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

realm  of  nature.  This  intermittent  character  of  life  is, 
however,  seeming  only.  The  death  of  the  individual 
that  has  reproduced  by  means  of  a  germ  cell  divided 
from  off  its  body  involves  no  break  in  that  series  of 
continuous  cell  divisions  which  thus  extends  backwards 
to  the  dawn  of  life. 

To  this  cyclical  movement  there  have  been  supposed 
exceptions.  L.  L.  Woodruff,^  e.g.,  has  cultivated  Parame- 
cium caud.  through  more  than  2000  generations  during 
a  period  of  4 1  months,  and  considers  that  the  varied 
culture  medium  with  which  these  results  have  been 
obtained  corresponds  more  accurately  to  the  natural 
environment  of  the  organism  than  the  more  constant 
media  used  by  other  experimenters  which  have  usually 
proved  favourable  to  conjugation.  Considerations  akin 
to  these  led  Weismann  long  ago  to  speak  of  the 
"potential  immortality"  of  unicellular  forms,^  meaning 
by  this  that  natural  death  is  unknown  amongst  them, 
being  an  incident  connected  with  the  transition  to 
multicellular  forms.  Whatever  may  ultimately  prove 
to  be  the  scientific  truth  underlying  the  conception,  it 
is  obvious  that  the  term  "  immortality  "  is  a  misnomer 
in  this  connection.  Etymology  even  would  indicate 
that  immortality  could  alone  be  postulated  of  the  in- 
dividual,  whereas  the  Protozoa  are  essentially  dividuals, 
lacking  that  in-dividuality  without  which  in  its  most 
developed  state  immortality  is  inconceivable.  If  the 
Protozoa  were  really  immortal  there  could  have  been 
no  evolutionary  progress,  and  the  waters  would  ere  long 
have  been  choked  up  with  them.^     If  death  had  not 

^  Archiv  jiir  Protistenktinde,  vol,  xxi.  p.  263. 

2  Cf.  The  Evolution  Theory,  vol.  i.  p.  260. 

2  It  is  calculated  that  one  of  the  rod-like  bacteria  less  than  5^  inch  in 
length  multiplies  in  natural  conditions  at  a  rate  which,  unchecked,  would 
within  five  days  fill  all  the  ocean  to  a  depth  of  one  mile  with  its  progeny. 

95 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

dogged  the  footsteps  of  life  from  the  beginning,  the 
Protozoa  would  have  used  up  all  the  assimilable 
material,  and  no  higher  form  could  have  come  into 
existence  by  that  way.  Mortality  is  an  essential  pre- 
requisite of  immortality.  In  some  cases  of  partheno- 
genesis a  process  of  continuous  growth  is  apparently 
strictly  followed  throughout  the  specific  history,  but 
again  there  is  always,  ultimately,  death  of  the  in- 
dividual. In  some  of  the  higher  plants  and  trees, 
construction  seems  to  be  continually  in  excess  of  de- 
struction, and  the  tree  may  be  said  to  grow  as  long  as 
it  lives  :  the  plant  is  much  less  a  "  closed  system  "  than 
an  animal.  Nevertheless,  the  individual  eventually  dies, 
even  although,  e.g.  by  grafting,  perpetuation  of  the  race 
may  be  secured  without  fertilisation. 

Further,  we  may  remark  that  not  merely  during 
those  internal  changes  of  every  part  that  comprise 
metabolism,  but  in  those  changes  of  the  whole  that  are 
involved  in  the  conception  of  its  life-history  the  living 
organism  maintains  a  certain  individuality  and  integrity. 
In  spite  of  the  constant  metabolic  change,  in  spite  of 
growth  and  decay,  the  living  organism  possesses  a  more 
or  less  constant  form  which  serves  as  the  arena  in 
which  those  changes  are  displayed.  Thus,  if  from  the 
combined  points  of  view  of  irritability  and  metabolism, 
we  think  of  the  living  organism  as  in  a  condition  of 
continual  specific  change,  its  activity  at  any  moment 
may  be  symbolically  expressed  by  the  formula  AxB, 
where  A  represents  the  first  of  a  series  of  states 
(AjAgAg...)  of  the  organism,  conditioned  by  successive 
states  of  the  changing  environment  (B^EgBg...).  That 
is  to  say,  any  specific  activity  at  any  moment  is  to  be 
considered  as  the  resultant  of  two  factors,  its  state  at 
the  moment  under  consideration  and  the  aggregate  of 
environmental  stimuli  or  circumstances.      This  activity 

96 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

in  turn  creates  a  new  state  (A^)  defined  by  what  A  was 
and  what  the  reaction  (A  x  B)  has  been,  which  in  like 
manner  is  modified  by  the  changing  environment  (B^) 
into  a  new  activity  (A2).  Now,  in  the  case  of  the 
organism  something  remains  all  through — a  specific 
type — expressed  by  A,  A^,  Ag,  etc.  In  short,  we  are 
aware  of  the  maintenance  of  a  state  of  dynamic 
equivalence  between  the  organism  and  its  environment 
which  has,  strictly,  no  parallel  in  the  inorganic  realm, 
and  which  within  the  organic  kingdom  increases  in 
complexity  the  higher  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  life. 
Continuously  the  organism  is  alive,  and  yet  its  material 
identity  does  not  depend  upon  identity  of  matter.  The 
matter  changes,  but  the  form  remains  more  or  less 
constant,  the  individuality  usually  even  more  so.  These 
forms  with  their  similarities  and  dissimilarities  serve  as 
the  basis  of  classification.  The  fact  that  life  shows 
itself  always  in  some  specific  form  v/ould  appear  to 
negative  completely  the  possibility  of  any  merely 
chemical  interpretation.  This  would  involve  an  ultimate 
explanation  of  organic  forms  in  terms  of  the  arrange- 
ments of  atoms  and  molecules.  A  leucocyte  certainly 
has  a  chemical  composition,  but  the  fullest  description 
of  that  chemical  constitution  will  never  give  any 
necessary  explanation  of  its  form,  still  less  of  that  of 
the  organism  whose  vascular  system  it  patrols.  The 
chemical  differences  of  the  organs  of  the  body  are  few 
compared  with  the  difference  of  their  form,  and  the 
diversity  is  greater  still  when  we  include  the  forms  of 
life.  Life  is  something  more  than  the  raw  materials  it 
employs.  We  may  speak  of  life  in  general,  but  we 
never  know  it  except  as  the  special  phenomena  of  a 
particular  organism.  Life  clearly  has  unity  or  indi- 
viduality at  the  core  of  its  meaning,  and  in  the  scheme 
of  nature,  one  of  whose  dominant  features  is  a  tendency 
G  i^J 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OP  NATURE 

towards  higher  individuation,  the  supreme  example 
is  found  in  man,  with  his  characteristic  awareness 
of  individuahty,  and  the  possibilities  involved  in  its 
complete  attainment. 

The  Evolution  of  Individuality  is  a  study  for  the 
future,  but  already  the  broad  lines  of  that  movement 
are  apparent.  Water  is  always  HgO  throughout  the 
world.  It  may  vary  slightly  in  its  chemical  constitu- 
tion, but  any  quantity  from  one  source  will  always 
unite  with  any  quantity  from  some  other  source.  We 
can  think  of  all  the  water  in  the  world  as  a  unity.  A 
greater  diversity  exists  e.g,  in  rock.  Yet  apart  from  a 
contour  which  is  the  result  of  external  circumstances, 
there  can  be  no  individuality,  and  we  can  easily  think 
of  all  the  granite  in  the  world  as  a  whole,  indeed  of  all 
the  rocks  as  a  single  mass.  But  with  regard  to  the 
realm  of  life  even  although  all  forms  are  of  the  same 
chemical  constitution  yet  it  is  not  possible  to  imagine 
a  summed  mass  even  of  invertebrate  life.  Still  less 
can  we  think  the  term  humanity  in  the  same  corporate 
way  as  we  can  think  the  term  rock,  for  the  former  is 
composed  of  discrete  individuals  whose  very  life  is  a 
protest  against  fusion  in  any  single  mass. 

7.  All  living  things  are  capable  of  reproduction. 
Having  a  definite  term  of  existence,  they  must  repro- 
duce themselves,  otherwise  the  organic  kingdom  would 
soon  pass  out  of  existence.  The  individual  dies — life 
is  intermittent  in  form — not,  however,  before  having, 
in  most  cases,  by  a  kind  of  discontinuous  growth, 
given  rise  to  forms  more  or  less  like  itself,  which  in 
their  turn  grow  and  reproduce  their  kind.  No  non- 
living thing  reproduces  itself  in  this  way. 

{a)  Divisioji.  The  simplest  form  of  reproduction  is 
by  division.  The  need  for  this  arises  in  part  directly 
out    of   assimilation.      For    the   due   interchanges  {e.g. 

98 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

respiration)  between  a  cell  and  its  environment,  a 
certain  ratio  is  necessary  between  surface  and  bulk. 
But  this  ratio  is  disturbed  by  growth  in  the  case  of  an 
organism  that  retains  its  shape,  inasmuch  as,  while  the 
bulk  varies  as  the  cube  of  the  diameter,  the  surface 
grows  but  with  the  square.  Further,  as  we  have 
learned,  the  nucleus  which  is  so  intimately  concerned 
with  assimilation,  is  limited  in  the  area  of  cytoplasm 
that  it  affects  through  the  continual  intercourse 
between  the  two.  Accordingly  the  requisite  surface 
is  gained  through  the  division  of  the  mass,  and  the 
mother  cell  loses  her  identity  in  that  of  the  two 
daughter  cells.  Such  reproduction  accordingly  takes 
the  form  of  discontinuous  growth.  Growth,  then,  is 
primarily  assimilation,  secondarily  division  —  the 
multiplication  of  cells.  Division  is  a  result  of  that 
expansiveness  which  is  the  very  symbol  of  life.  As 
such  it  is  the  normal  method  of  increase. 

Cell  division  in  its  normal  condition  in  unicellular 
and  multicellular  forms  alike  is  a  highly  complicated 
though  rapid  process,  involving  the  actual  splitting  of 
the  chromatin  granules  through  longitudinal  division 
of  the  chromosomes.!  While  a  transverse  division  of 
the  chromosomes  could  never  have  meant  more  than  a 
quantitative  division  of  their  mass,  it  is  possible  that 
the  longitudinal  splitting  involves  a  qualitative  division. 
In  the  case  of  the  linin  reticulum  those  filaments  which 
lie  in  or  near  the  plane  of  division  are  split  longitudin- 
ally, while  those  that  lie  at  right  angles  to  this  plane 
and  connect  the  centres,  so  to  speak,  of  the  future 
daughter  cells  simply  lengthen  and  grow.     This  power 

^  This  process  of  indirect  nuclear  division  is  usually  called  mitosis 
(Gr.  ^t'ros,  a  thread)  from  the  circumstance  that  the  chromatin  and  linin 
elements  first  range  themselves  in  a  tangled  skein  which  segments  into  the 
chromosomes  (cf.  Figs,  i  and  4). 

99 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION   OF  NATURE 

of  division,  inherited  from  the  precellular  chromidial 
unit,  we  can  only  think  of  as  a  definite  characteristic 
of  Hfe.  As  a  result,  every  particle  of  the  chromatin 
and,  in  great  part,  of  the  linin  also,  of  the  mother  cell 
is  equally  divided  between  the  re-organised  nuclei  of 
the  daughter  cells.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  in  the  case  of  tissue  formation  and 
embryonic  development  such  division  of  cells  does  not 
imply  their  absolute  separation. 

Although  the  process  of  cell  division  admits  of 
simple  description,^  yet  of  the  actual  mechanism  or  of 
the  energy  at  work  we  know  practically  nothing. 
Even  more  important  are  the  issues  of  the  first  cell 
division.  In  a  sense,  the  phenomenon  is  a  repetition 
of  the  division  of  the  precellular  chromidial  unit.  A 
growth  limit  appears  in  the  precellular  unit,  the  cell 
itself,  and,  indeed,  in  all  the  higher  subsequent  units. 
But  the  possibilities  of  the  cell  colony  are  infinitely 
greater  than  those  of  the  chromidial  colonies,  whose 
perfected  example  is  the  modern  cell.  When  cells 
multiply  and  remain  in  such  close  association  that 
not  merely  they  enjoy  the  benefits  of  numbers  {e.g. 
enlarged  area  of  relationship  with  the  environment) 
and  incipient  corporation,  but  a  new  type  of  organisa- 
tion emerges  as  the  result  of  the  more  intimate  union 
of  groups  of  cells  to  form  organs,  it  is  evident  that  an 
immense  advantage  is  conferred  on  such  an  organism ; 
in  short,  its  life  is  on  almost  a  different  plane.  Further, 
if  this  growth  limit  is  an  ultimate  condition  of  things, 
then  only  by  colony  formation  could  any  real  advance 
have  occurred  at  all. 

A  third  type  in  which  division  appears  as  a 
characteristic   of  the    living  organism  is    the  gastrula, 

^  Cf.  E.  B.  Wilson,  The  Cellin  Development  and  Inheritance  yOh^.^.  ii.,  or 
other  standard  works. 

lOO 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

a  body- form  found  throughout  the  Coelenterate  group. 
This  unit  is  a  distinct  advance  upon  the  simple  cell 
colony,  and  may  not  improbably  be  thought  of  as 
arising  directly  from  a  primitive  syncytial  network  "  by 
the  formation  of  a  large  nutritive  cavity,  all  the  nuclei, 
during  this  process,  crowding  outward  to  form  the  wall 
of  the  sac  thus  produced."  ^  An  instructive  parallel 
may  even  be  drawn  between  this  unit  of  the  third 
order  and  those  of  the  preceding  forms  which  is 
peculiarly  close  in  the  fact  of  division  of  the  whole 
individual  as  seen  in  the  fission  of  well-known  colonial 
coral  types.  Such  fission  seems  later  to  have  given 
place  to  the  easier  process  of  budding ;  and  although 
no  stationary  forms  with  definite  skeleton  like  the 
typical  coral  could  have  stood  in  the  direct  line  of 
racial  progress,  yet  in  a  linear  colony  resulting  from 
posterior  budding  of  such  a  free  swimming  gastraeal 
unit  the  origin  of  the  Annelidan  type  of  life  has  been 
sought  for,  whose  greater  efficiency  would  lie  amongst 
other  features  in  its  enhanced  neuro-muscular  digestive 
system,  due  to  the  fusion  and  integration  of  the  units.^ 
From  such  a  type  it  has  long  been  usual  to  deduce 
the  primitive  vertebrate,  characterised  particularly  by 
concentration  of  the  nervous  system.  The  detail  in 
such  theoretic  lineage  tracery  is  considerable  and  must  be 
sought  for  in  the  proper  quarters.  The  insistence  here 
is  simply  on  the  fundamental  importance  of  division 
which  with  colony  formation  has  resulted  in  a 
rhythmical   advance  of  life. 

{b)  Fertilisation.  Simple  cell  division,  however,  is 
only  one  aspect  of  reproduction.  The  culture  study 
of  Protozoa  has  shown  that,  with  the  possible  exception 

^  H.  M.  Bernard,  op.  cit.  p.  356. 

2  Bernard  finds  many  points  of  contact  between  such  a  theoretical  Annelid 
and  the  peculiar  form  Sagitta. 

lOI 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

of  some  extremely  low  organisms,  there  comes  a  time 
in  the  life-history   of  unicellular   forms  when,   after  a 
greater  or  less   number  of  ordinary  divisions,  it  appears 
as  if  the  cells  were  becoming  worn  out,  were  gradually 
shrinking  in  size  after  every  such  division,  and  showing 
signs  of  nuclear  degeneration,  so    that  a   prospect  of 
final   extinction  looms  in   the   future  unless   they    are 
able  to  fuse  together  in    pairs  with  cells  of  different 
origin,  thus  producing   an    elementary   organism    that 
becomes     the    starting  -  point     for     a     new    series    of 
multiplications    by    division.      Accordingly,     the     life- 
history  resolves  itself  into   a    cycle,   the  starting-point 
being  furnished  by   any  two  cells  which,  after  fusion, 
either  separate  and  divide,  or  commence  to  divide  as 
a    single     organism     when     fused,     and     continue     so 
to   multiply    asexually,   sometimes    to  the  number  of 
thousands  of  individuals,  till  what  has  been  described 
as  senile  degeneration  sets  in.     At  this  stage  union  of 
these  cells  with  others  of  different  origin  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  perpetuation    of  the   species.     This 
process   of   cell    union,    of   which,    in    those  instances 
where  the  organisms  latterly  separate,  the  fundamental 
characteristic  is   a  reciprocal   exchange  and  fusion   of 
nuclear     substance  —  an    exchange    of    experiences  — 
between  the  uniting  or  conjugating  elements,  illustrates 
the  simplest  type  of  that   second   aspect  of  cell  repro- 
duction known  as  fertilisation. 

Conjugation  has  of  course  been  observed  in  a  state 
of  nature,  but  it  is  not  altogether  clear  how  far  the 
conditions  of  artificial  culture  are  causal  in  inducing 
the  phenomenon.  Equally  artificial  are  the  changes 
in  culture  environment  to  which  Paramecium,  for 
example,  has  been  subjected  in  experiments  tending  to 
ward  off  conjugation  and  stimulate  continued  fission. 
But  it  is  evident  that  the  normal  protozoan  cycle  must 

I02 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

be  greatly  extended,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  under 
normal  conditions  conjugation  is  not  so  rhythmic  a 
phenomenon  as  has  hitherto  been  supposed. 

In  the  higher  forms  of  life,  instances  of  partheno- 
genesis apart,  we  have  a  similar  process — fusion  of 
cells  of  different  origin  ;  here,  however,  the  fusing  cells 
never  separate,  so  that  the  element  of  exchange  drops 
quite  out  of  sight.  The  essential  feature  of  fertilisation 
is  the  union  of  a  nucleus  of  paternal  origin  with  a 
nucleus  of  maternal  origin  to  form  the  primary  nucleus 
of  the  next  generation.  This,  however,  does  not  mean 
that  the  cytoplasm  of  the  gametes,^  minimal  as  it  is  in 
the  case  of  the  spermatozoon,  has  no  determining 
influence.  Experimentation  shows  that  hereditary 
characters  arise  apart  from  nuclear  considerations,  but 
the  degree  of  the  cytoplasmic  influence  in  heredity  is 
not  yet  very  clear.  In  multicellular  organisms  the 
cells  which  result  from  the  division  of  the  fertilised  egg 
remain  associated  together,  thus  forming  a  complex 
colony  of  cells,  an  organic  individual,  however,  of  a 
higher  order  than  the  Volvox  community.  In  a  sense 
this  multicellular  organism  is  morphologically  com- 
parable with  the  sum  of  the  cells  produced  by  asexual 
division  from  the  two  unicellular  ex-conjugates.  The 
cycle  closes  in  the  higher  forms  when  the  sexual  cells 
have  become  mature,  and  separate  from  the  parent  to 
unite  in  the  process  of  fertilisation,  which  forms  the 
starting-point  for  the  new  generation  of  dividing  cells. 
All  this  is  a  very  complicated  process  in  the  case  of 
the  Vertebrates  and  Invertebrates,  but  in  the  lower 
multicellular  Algae  it  is  simple  enough.  The  capacity 
which  every  cell,  e.g.  of  Pandorina^  exhibits  of  helping 
to  reproduce  the  whole  multicellular  organism  is  not 
seen    when   the   organism    is    somewhat    more    highly 

^  i.e.  conjugating  cells  which  unite  to  form  a  zygote. 
103 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

developed.  For,  in  that  case,  the  cells  of  the  body  ^ 
sooner  or  later  become  differentiated  into  two  great 
classes  the  members  of  which  Weismann  has  termed 
somatic  and  germ  cells  respectively.  The  former  are 
of  prime  importance  for  the  individual  life,  being 
differentiated  into  those  various  tissues  which  collectively 
form  the  *'  body."  The  germ  cells,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  of  less  significance  for  the  individual  life,  but  in 
eventually  giving  rise  to  new  creatures  are  intimately 
concerned  with  the  interests  of  the  species.  This 
differentiation  is  markedly  noticeable  so  far  down  in 
the  animal  scale  as  Volvox  globator.  Amongst  the 
very  numerous  cells  that  constitute  a  colonial  form  like 
Volvox  some  remain  vegetative  and  others  are  trans- 
formed into  reproductive  cells.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
right  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  distinction,  even  in  the 
case  of  the  higher  animals,  is  only  relative,  since  both 
sets  of  cells  ultimately  have  a  common  origin  in  the 
fertilised  egg-cell. 

Further,  a  progressive  differentiation  not  merely 
between  the  germ  cells  which  unite  in  fertilisation,  but 
in  the  type  of  individuals  producing  them,  is  also 
noticeable.  In  the  simplest  forms  the  conjugating 
elements  are  exactly  alike  to  all  appearance,  yet 
already  amongst  the  Protozoa  differentiation  has  been 
established,  perhaps  even  in  the  case  of  the  Paramecium 
conjugates.  The  eggs  of  the  colonial  Volvox  are  large, 
and  fertilised  by  minute  biflagellate  male  spores  that 
are  produced  in  dozens  by  the  division  of  a  mother 
sperm  cell ;  in  the  case  of  the  sporozoon  Coccidium 
schubergi  the  differentiation  of  the  gametes  is  even 
more  striking.  In  the  case  of  the  higher  animals  we 
have  eventually  two  types  of  organisation  producing 

^  Such  a  differentiation  is  already  noticeable  amongst  the  Protozoa,  only 
here  it  is  necessarily  restricted  to  the  nuclei,  e.g.  Parameciwn. 

104 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

two  types  of  reproductive  cell  whose  differing  form  and 
function  have  from  the  first  betokened  a  physiological 
division  of  labour.  The  uniting  cells  must  meet ;  this 
is  ensured  by  the  small,  active,  unencumbered  sperm. 
A  sufficient  supply  of  nutrient  material  must  be 
provided  for  the  early  stages  of  the  developing  life ; 
this  is  supplied  by  the  large,  passive,  yolk-laden  egg. 


Fig.  4. — Fertilised  Ovum  of 
ASCARIS.  —  Male  and  female 
germ-nuclei,  with  chromatin  at 
continuous  thread  stage :  the 
centrosomes  are  separating.  To 
the  right  are  the  extruded  polar 
bodies.  (From  Walker's  Essen- 
tials of  Cytology,  by  kind  permis- 
sion of  the  publishers. ) 


Fig.  5.— Later  Stage  in  Fer- 
tilisation {AscARis).  —  The 
membranes  of  the  germ-nuclei 
have  disappeared,  and  the  two 
chromosomes  derived  from  each, 
four  in  all,  have  become  attached 
to  the  spindle  fibres.  (From 
Walker's  Essentials  of  Cytology, 
by  kind  permission  of  the  pub- 
lishers. ) 


The  organisations  that  produce  these  differing  types  of 
cell  we  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  male  and  female 
respectively.  But  this  does  not  necessarily  involve 
any  particular  maleness  in  the  one  case  or  femaleness 
in  the  other — the  unfertilised  eggs  of  bees  develop 
into  males.  In  the  organic  world  sperm  and  egg  cells 
are  derived  from  reproductive  cells  that  initially  are 
similar  in  size,  appearance,  and  origin,  but  have  become 

105 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

differentiated  through  developing  in  different  directions 
Indeed,  all  the  adaptations  and  associations  connoted 
by  the  words  male  and  female  are  secondary  to  the 
essential  fact  of  fertilisation,  which  is  the  same  in 
higher  and  lower  types  alike,  namely,  the  union  of 
equivalent  nuclei :  to  this  all  other  processes,  and  they 
are  many,  are  tributary. 

While  certain  experiments  have  been  held  to  indicate 
that  external  conditions  may  in  some  instances  de- 
termine sex,  it  is  more  probable  that  in  the  generality 
of  cases  the  sex-determining  factor  must  be  sought 
elsewhere,  and  previous  to  development.  In  the  case 
of  certain  species  of  insects,  it  probably  takes  the  form 
of  what  has  been  described  as  an  "  accessory  "  chromo- 
some. Demonstration  has  been  made  of  insect  species 
with  two  kinds  of  sperm — one  with,  the  other  without, 
the  accessory  chromosome.  Its  presence  is  also  in- 
dicated in  the  egg  cells.  According  as  the  fertilisa- 
tion is  effected  by  the  first  or  second  type  of  sperm  is 
the  resulting  individual  female  or  male.  No  analogous 
phenomenon  has,  however,  been  described  outside  this 
particular  class,  and  even  within  it  comparatively  rarely. 

Previous  to  fertilisation,  a  ripening  process  takes 
place  in  both  spermatozoon  and  ovum,  which  is  usually 
termed  maturation.  As  a  result  of  it,  every  male  cell 
produced  in  the  course  of  the  process  is  capable  of 
functioning,  though  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  female 
cells,  of  which  only  one  in  four  are  potential  egg  cells. 
With  maturation  is  intimately  connected  a  reduction 
in  the  number  of  the  chromosomes  to  one-half  the 
number  characteristic  of  the  species :  in  this  way  a 
progressive  summation  of  the  chromosomes  throughout 
succeeding  generations  is  prevented.  The  procedure 
is  very  complicated  and  still  imperfectly  understood  ; 
but  in  the  case  of  animals  it  is  probable  that  previous 

lo6 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

to  the  penultimate  of  the  two  final  divisions  by  which 
the  definitive  germ  cells  are  formed,  the  peculiar  con- 
densation of  the  chromatin  (synapsis),  and  its  appear- 
ance ultimately  in  a  number  of  loop-like  bodies 
corresponding  to  half  the  typical  number  of  chromo- 
somes, really  represent  in  each  case  a  conjugation  of 
"  homologous "  paternal  and  maternal  chromosomes 
which  have  hitherto  remained  distinct,  and  is  followed 
by  a  reducing  (meiotic)  division  in  which  they  separate 
by  dividing  transversely,  so  reducing  the  number  to 
half  that  which  is  characteristic  of  the  species,  but 
really  also  segregating  the  "  homologous  "  paternal  and 
maternal  chromosomes  into  separate  cells  in  varying 
combinations.  This  is  followed  by  the  final  division 
producing  mature  gametes  in  which  the  chromosomes 
divide  longitudinally  as  usual.  Accordingly,  the  life 
cycle  of  the  organism  is  after  this  fashion — conjugation 
of  paternal  and  maternal  cells,  somatic  divisions,  and 
conjugation  of  paternal  and  maternal  chromosomes. 
Every  nucleus,  then,  arising  by  the  segmentation  of  a 
fertilised  egg  cell  contains  a  double  set  of  chromosomes 
— nuclear  substance  derived  from  both  parents.  The 
centrosome  is  usually  that  of  the  sperm,  as  the  egg 
centrosome  degenerates  after  maturation. 

The  question  of  the  individuality  of  the  chromosomes 
has  lately  received  very  close  attention.  From  a  theo- 
retical point  of  view  the  denial  of  their  individuality 
seems  to  make  mitosis  meaningless.  Why  this  careful 
and  accurate  division  of  the  chromosomes  if  after  every 
such  division  the  substances  of  the  different  chromosomes 
are  jumbled  up  in  a  common  mass  at  nuclear  recon- 
struction ?  The  assumption  of  their  stability  likewise 
gives  us  the  better  explanation  of  their  constant  number. 
From  the  practical  side  Rabl,  so  long  ago  as  1885, 
maintained,  as   the  result  of  study  of  mitosis  in   the 

107 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

epithelial  cells  of  the  salamander,  that  the  chromosomes 
do  not  lose  their  individuality  between  succeeding 
divisions,  but  persist  in  the  chromatic  reticulum  of  the 
resting  nucleus.  His  idea  was  that  the  reticulum  arose 
as  the  result  of  a  transformation  of  the  chromosomes, 
which  gave  off  anastomosing  branches,  causing  the 
temporary  appearance  of  a  network  that  was  again 
lost  as  the  reticulum  contracted  at  various  definite 
points  to  form  the  typical  number  of  original  chromo- 
somes. Boveri,  in  particular,  and  others  have  further 
shown  that  whatever  be  the  number  of  chromosomes 
entering  into  the  composition  of  a  nuclear  reticulum, 
the  same  number  issues  from  it  at  a  later  stage,  and  in 
very  much  the  same  position.  This  is  particularly 
striking  in  certain  abnormal  cases  of  fertilisation,  where 
it  was  noticed  that  the  irregular  number  of  chromosomes 
persisted  from  one  cell  generation  to  another,  so  sug- 
gesting that  "  the  number  of  chromosomes  appearing 
in  a  nucleus  during  mitosis  is  the  same  as  the  number 
of  chromosomes  from  which  it  was  originally  formed."  ^ 
The  same  result  is  apparent  in  cases  characterised  by 
an  "  accessory "  chromosome.  In  certain  species  the 
chromosomes  can  be  distinguished  during  the  resting 
stage  of  the  nucleus  :  and  even  if  in  most  cases  it  looks 
as  if  the  identity  of  the  chromosomes  was  lost  at  this 
stage,  yet  this  does  not  prove  that  it  is  so  lost.  In 
other  species  the  chromosomes  appear  to  show  constant 
differences  of  size  and  shape,  so  suggesting  that  they 
may  possess  specific  individual  characters.  In  several 
cases  (e.g.  Asca7Hs,  Cyclops)  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  the  germ  nuclei  do  not  fuse,  but  that  they  give 
rise  to  two  separate  yet  parallel  series  of  paternal  and 
maternal  chromosomes  that  remain  perfectly  distinct, 
as  far,  at  any  rate  (in  Ascaris),  as  the  twelve-cell  stage, 

1  C.  E.  Walker,  The  Essentials  of  Cytology,  p.  92. 
108 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

and  probably  throughout  Hfe.  Finally,  as  we  have 
seen,  associated  with  maturation  there  is  a  conjugation 
of  "homologous"  chromosomes  which  are  later  separated 
in  the  reduction  division ;  and  as  a  final  result  we  have 
the  separation  of  whole  somatic  chromosomes — data, 
all  of  which  seem  to  imply  a  measure  at  least  of  per- 
sistent individuality.  Here  then,  in  general,  is  an 
important,  if  it  can  be  absolutely  demonstrated,  an 
epoch-making  discovery.  With  Harvey's  name  we 
associate  the  discovery  Omne  vivufti  e  vivo.  To 
Virchow  we  owe  the  induction  Omnis  cellula  e  celluld. 
Strasburger  first  clearly  established  the  truth  Omnis 
nucleus  e  nucleo.  And  with  Boveri's  name  it  is  just 
possible  that  there  will  be  linked  the  further  truth  that 
there  are  chromosome  generations  corresponding  to 
cell  generations ;  that  the  chromosomes  of  one  genera- 
tion arise  endogenously  in  the  chromosomes  of  a 
previous  generation ;  that  growth  and  reproduction, 
characteristic  features  of  living  things,  are  predicable 
of  these  intracellular  units — in  short,  Omne  cJironiosoma 
e  chromosomate. 

The  further  question  remains  of  the  relation  of 
particular  qualities  to  the  chromosomes — how  far  they 
may  be  considered  to  be  the  vehicles  of  inheritance. 
The  facts  of  the  reduction  division  involve  an  alter- 
native distribution  of  the  chromosomes  that  evidently 
excludes  the  possibility  of  their  being  the  vehicles  of 
the  common  racial  characters — unless,  indeed,  all  of  them 
are  present  in  every  individual  chromosome.  The 
distribution  that  takes  place  when  the  paired  chromo- 
somes separate  in  the  reduction  division  prevents  a  half 
of  every  one  of  the  chromosomes  going  to  the  resulting 
gametes.  But  teeth  are  found  in  every  creature  in 
which  it  is  a  racial  character,  and  if  that  quality  only 
resided   in   some   chromosomes   the  reduction  division 

109 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

would  imply  its  consequent  absence  in  many  individuals. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  every  racial  character  is  present 
in  every  chromosome,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  wherein  lies 
the  significance  of  a  reduction  division,  or  of  the 
accurate  longitudinal  division  of  the  chromosomes  that 
ensures  the  practical  reproduction  of  each  chromosome 
of  the  zygote  in  every  cell  of  the  resulting  body. 
Mendelism  shows  that  certain  characters  are  inherited 
alternatively,  and  certainly  characters  are  associated 
with  the  chromosomes,  though  with  which  and  how 
we  may  not  yet  say.  Again,  recent  experimentation 
indicates  that  the  cytoplasm,  if  only  in  a  less  degree, 
takes  its  share  in  the  transmission  of  hereditary  qualities. 
There  is  nothing  to  prove  that  this  function  is  limited 
to  the  nucleus,  and  much  is  incomprehensible  on  any 
other  supposition  than  that  the  cytoplasm — whose 
relations  with  the  nucleus  constitute  the  characteristic 
metabolism  of  the  cell — has  a  sure  though  ill-defined 
share  in  heredity. 

Fertilisation,  then,  is  a  process  by  which  the  energy 
lost  in  a  continuous  cycle  of  divisions  is  restored  by 
the  admixture  of  living  matter  from  another  cell.  It 
entails  the  blending  of  two  independent  lines  of  descent, 
the  actual  union  of  two  linin-chromatin  networks. 
But  when  we  go  on  to  ask,  What  is  the  ultimate  end 
of  fertilisation  ?  we  not  only  ask  a  question  involving 
that  introduction  of  teleological  considerations  which  is 
by  many  held  to  be  the  bane  of  Science,  but  we  raise 
an  inquiry  to  which,  though  many  answers  have  been 
given,  a  completely  satisfactory  reply  has  not  yet  been 
formulated. 

Fertilisation  as  involving  rejuvenescence  of  the  con- 
jugating individuals  might  perhaps  be  thought  of  as  a 
kind  of  mutual  assimilation  arising  out  of  a  specific 
sex  hunger,  whereby  two  cells  exhausted  and  bereft  of 

no 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

essential  elements  of  their  economy  unite,  and  out  of 
the  satisfaction  is  generated  the  energy  of  a  new 
individual.  It  is  not  inconceivable  that  in  the  course 
of  the  long  series  of  divisions  the  protoplasmic  equili- 
brium of  the  dividing  cells  is  upset,  and  that  this  is 
righted  by  the  mutual  attraction  of  cells  lacking  in  and 
charged  with  specific  qualities.  In  the  case  of  the 
Protozoa  conjugation  certainly  has  this  effect,  for  it  is 
always  the  commencement  of  a  new  series  of  divisions ; 
in  fact,  strictly  it  means  the  formation  of  a  new  in- 
dividual in  protozoon  and  metazoon  alike.  Weismann 
sees  in  it  a  means  of  mixing  germ  plasms  whereby 
variations  are  produced  and  multiplied  :  these  variations 
are  the  material  upon  which  natural  selection  is  sup- 
posed to  work  in  the  production  of  new  species.  This 
is  for  him  the  purpose  of  fertilisation,  and  carries  with 
it  the  implication  that  forms  produced  by  binary  fission 
or  parthenogenesis  are  practically  duplicates.  Con- 
siderable variation  has,  however,  been  shown  to  exist  in 
the  case  of  forms  reproducing  by  binary  fission  and 
parthenogenesis ;  ^  consequently  it  is  not  permissible 
for  Weismann  to  say  more  than  that  fertilisation  is  a 
source  of  variation,  or  is  accompanied  by  it.  Again, 
it  is  also  possible  to  regard  fertilisation  as  a  means  of 
checking  variations,  and  so,  on  the  contrary,  of  keeping 
the  species  true  to  the  specific  type.  The  offspring  of 
biparental  reproduction,  instead  of  being  more  variable 
than  either  parent,  is,  so  to  speak,  half-way  between 
them,  and  so  departs  less  widely  from  the  mean  than 
either  of  them.  Indeed,  the  study  of  variation  serves 
to  indicate  that,  so  far  from  producing  new  variations, 
biparental  reproduction  tends  on  the  whole  to  eliminate 
such  individual  variations  as  are  not  directly  the  subject 

^  J.    Y.    Simpson,    The    Relation    oj  Binary   Fission    to     Variation ; 
Biometrika,  vol.  i.  No.  4 ;  E.  Warren,  Proc.  Royal  Society,  vol.  Ixv.  p.  154. 

Ill 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

of  selection.  In  particular,  under  normal  conditions  all 
larger  variations  which  are  not  present  in  both  parents 
will  tend  to  be  diluted  out :  the  useless  variation  is 
eliminated. 

In  any  case,  as  the  result  of  some  form  of  stimulus 
consequent  on  fertilisation,  the  egg  commences  to 
segment.  The  individual  cells  or  blastomeres,  giving 
the  appearance  of  isolation  because  of  the  concentrated 
nuclei  packed  around  with  nutritive  matter,  are  yet  in 
direct  contact  through  strands  of  the  linin  network, 
which  does  not,  however,  prevent  a  certain  amount  of 
play  of  one  cell  upon  the  other.  These  cleavage 
divisions  are  similar  to  those  that  occur  in  ordinary 
cell  division.  The  sole  difference  is  that  very  early 
these  divisions  are  accompanied  by  differentiation. 
Differentiation  in  the  higher  forms  of  life  is  expressed 
in  the  establishment  of  tissues  and  later  of  organs  in 
connection  with  that  physiological  division  of  labour 
that  usually  means  so  much  greater  capacity  for  doing 
special  work.  The  more  complex  the  organic  structure 
the  more  detailed  is  this  subdivision  of  labour :  the 
greater  the  degree  of  co-ordination  and  unification  of 
these  activities,  the  higher  the  creature  stands,  as  a 
general  rule,  in  the  scale  of  life.  How  all  the  different 
stages  have  arisen  with  their  genetic  continuity  is  the 
story  of  evolution,  most  interesting,  if  most  difficult,  in 
the  lower  grades  of  life,  where,  however,  modern  study, 
e.g.  of  the  Protozoa,  sheds  floods  of  light  upon  the 
question.  In  the  course  of  this  differentiation  consider- 
able change  is  often  noticed  in  the  functions  of  the 
organs — what  at  one  stage  played  one  particular  role 
is  found  at  a  later  stage  to  function  in  a  different 
manner. 

Again,  the  cleavage  divisions  of  the  developing  ^g^ 
are  often  effected  in  planes  that  show  some  definite 

I  12 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

relation  to  the  structural  axes  of  the  adult  body. 
Typically  the  cells  tend  rhythmically  to  divide  into 
exactly  equal  parts,  and  any  new  plane  of  division  tends 


Fig.  6. — Cleavage  of  the  Ovum  of  the  Sea-Urchin  Toxopneustes 
(  X  330).  The  successive  divisions  up  to  the  i6-cell  stage  (H)  occupy 
about  tvi^o  hours.  I  is  a  section  of  the  embryo  of  3  hours,  consisting 
of  approximately  128  cells  surrounding  a  central  cavity.  (From 
Wilson's  The  Cell,  by  kind  permission.) 

to  intersect  the  preceding  one  at  right  angles.  Variations, 
however,  occur  not  merely  in  the  rhythm  and  in  the 
quantitative  character  of  the  divisions,  but  also  in  the 
direction  of  the  cleavage  planes ;  these  variations  are 
H  113 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

often  of  regular  occurrence.  Not  merely  do  the  cells 
divide  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  definite 
mechanical  conditions,  but  also  and  more  distinctively 
with  reference  to  the  future  cell  orientation  and 
structure  of  the  animal.  The  framework  of  the  human 
liver,  for  example,  is  developed  from  the  mesodermal 
layer  of  the  embryo  ;  the  hepatic  cells  have  their  origin 
in  the  endoderm.  "  To  bring  these  two  structures 
together  to  form  a  liver  implies  growth  from  different 
points  and  at  the  proper  time."  ^  Of  this  forward  look, 
as  of  the  unequal  division  that  sometimes  sets  in  as 
early  as  the  first  segmentation,  and  in  every  case 
appears  sooner  or  later,  no  sufficient  account  has  been 
offered.  In  fact,  as  Wilson  puts  it,^  "  we  cannot  com- 
prehend the  forms  of  cleavage  without  reference  to  the 
end-result."  Study  of  all  purely  mechanical  factors, 
such  as  pressure,  form,  etc.,  only  makes  it  more  obvious 
that  the  work  is  subordinated  to  that  of  some  superior 
controlling  law  of  growth. 

How  far  the  later  structure  of  the  developmental 
form  is  already  determined  in  the  structure  of  the  egg 
is  the  root  problem  of  Embryology.  In  many  cases 
a  definite  relationship  appears  to  exist  between  early 
blastomeres  and  the  later  adult  areas  to  which  they  give 
rise :  in  other  cases,  again,  it  becomes  evident,  par- 
ticularly as  the  result  of  experiment,  that  there  can 
be  no  definite,  unalterable  pre-localisation  of  parts  of 
the  egg.  In  several  cases  the  egg  axis  is  not 
established  until  after  fertilisation,  and  is  even  then 
experimentally  alterable.  But  no  general  consideration 
holds  in  any  number  of  cases.  Cell  formation  and 
localisation  of  areas  seem,  ultimately,  alike  subordinate 
to  some  controlling  formative  process  that  expresses 

^  J.  G.  M'Kendrick,  T/ie  Principles  of  Physiology,  p.  51. 
2  op.  cit.  p.  377. 

I  14 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

itself  in  growth.  Development  takes  the  form  of  an 
orderly  correlated  progress  towards  a  definite  end. 
The  egg  in  each  case  in  a  remarkably  short  time 
evolves  into  a  type  about  which  certain  general  state- 
ments can  be  prophetically  hazarded,  but  of  the  in- 
wardness of  this  process  no  account  can  yet  be  given. 
To  speak  of  developmental  capacities  as  being  involved 
in  the  organisation  of  the  egg  is,  perhaps,  effective,  but 
not  informing:  at  the  most,  any  accurate  descriptive 
account  of  the  stages  is  all  that  is  within  the  power  of 
the  biologist. 

The  idea  of  pre-determination  or  pre-localisation  of 
embryonic  parts  in  the  fertilised  (possibly  even  in  the 
unfertilised)  egg  cytoplasm  has  fascinated  many 
workers  :  not,  of  course,  in  the  crude  sense  of  the  early 
evolutionists,  who  maintained  the  existence  of  a  pre- 
formed though  invisible  embryo,  or  even  in  some  cases 
a  miniature  of  the  adult  in  the  egg,  but  in  the  more 
general  sense  that  definite  areas,  perhaps  definite  sub- 
stances, in  the  apparently  homogeneous  cytoplasm 
correspond  to  definite  parts  which  will  later  be  built  up 
out  of  them.  There  are  a  great  many  facts  that  serve 
to  indicate  that  the  cytoplasm  has  considerable  and 
sometimes  specific  regulative  control  in  development 
Segmentation  would  then  simply  reveal  what  is  already 
predetermined.  On  the  other  hand,  identification  of 
the  physical  basis  of  hereditary  with  nuclear  material 
demands  that  such  cytoplasmic  pre-localisation — if  it 
exists — must  be  determined  and  controlled  from  the 
nucleus ;  and  the  attempt  has  been  made,  notably  by 
De  Vries  and  Weismann  in  their  respective  theories,  to 
transfer  the  assumed  germinal  localisation  from  the 
cytoplasm  to  the  nucleus.  The  differentiation  corre- 
sponding to  later  embryonic  regions,  which  is  early 
noticeable    in    the  cytoplasm,  is    induced    secondarily 

115 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

through  the  influence  of  the  ultimate  nuclear  units  that 
migrate  into  the  cytoplasm  and  direct  its  development. 
In  Weismann's  theory,  development  resolves  itself  into 
the  gradual  qualitative  distribution  of  these  units  from 
their  massed  condition  in  the  early  cells,  until  at  last  in 
each  cell  there  is  simply  left  that  particular  determinant 
which  controls  it.  But  of  these  qualitative  divisions, 
save,  perhaps,  in  the  reduction  division  in  maturation, 
there  is  scant  evidence.  On  the  contrary,  certain  facts 
connected  with  regeneration,  and  the  ability  of  a  single 
cell  of  the  two  or  four  cell  stage  to  reproduce  the 
whole  embryo  {Amphioxus,  Echinus),  although  on  a 
reduced  scale,  distinctly  negative  it.  Further,  in  the 
cases  where,  as  in  the  frog,  the  right  cell  of  the  two-cell 
stage  appears  to  contain  the  material  for  the  right  half  of 
the  body,  that  cell  if  isolated  can  yet  in  great  measure 
supply  the  deficiency  by  a  peculiar  kind  of  regeneration. 
If,  then,  there  be  no  qualitative  distribution  of  the 
chromatin,  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  be  equally  distributed 
at  every  cell  division,  how  is  the  differentiation  accom- 
plished ?  Driesch  has  suggested  that  the  answer  lies 
in  part  in  the  relation  of  a  blastomere  to  the  remainder 
of  the  embryo.  "  The  relative  position  of  a  blastomere 
in  the  whole  determines  in  general  what  develops  from 
it ;  if  its  position  be  changed,  it  gives  rise  to  something 
different :  in  other  words,  its  prospective  value  is  a 
function  of  its  position  in  the  whole."  ^  The  suggestion 
bears  a  true  relation  to  what  does  occur  in  many 
instances;  but  it  is  evident  that  not  merely  the 
position  of  a  blastomere  to  its  neighbours,  but  the 
position  of  its  own  constituents  have  to  be  considered, 
for  Morgan  has  shown  that  even  in  the  case  of  the 
two-cell  frog  the  single  isolated  cell  may  give  rise  to 
a  whole  embryo  of  half  size,  as  in    Amphioxus,  or   a 

^  Studien,  iv.  39. 
116 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

half  embryo,  according  as   the   isolated   cell   is  turned 
upside   down    or    left    in   its    normal    position.       This 
seems  to  indicate  that  all  the  material  for  a  complete, 
if  half-sized,  embryo  exists   in   the   single   cell    of  the 
two-cell  stage,  and  that  at  this  stage,  as  in  Amphioxus^ 
the  blastomere  is   not  so  firmly  set  that  it   can   only 
develop  into  the  half  of  the  creature  that  normally  it 
would.      In   fact,   embryology  discloses   a  whole  series 
of  forms  in  which  this  equivalence  of  the  isolated  cells 
at   the   early   stages    is    greater   or   less,    some    easily 
overcoming  the  tendency  to  develop  only  (as  normally) 
into  a  part,  others  doing  so  with   greater  difficulty,  and 
even  failing,  with  the  result  that   a   monster   (defective 
larva  or  adult)  is   formed.      Accordingly  it  would   seem 
as  if  in   every  case,  even   though  we  may  have   to   go 
back   to  the    prematuration   stage,  the    ^gg  cytoplasm 
is  primarily  equipotential  in  the  sense  that  the  various 
regions  do  not  stand   in   a  fixed  relation  to  parts  that 
may  develop   out  of   them,    but   that   sooner    or   later 
differentiation  of  these  regions,  resulting  in   a   mosaic- 
like development,  does  take  place  from   causes  that  we 
do    not    understand — sooner,    as    in    the    case    of  the 
mollusc  Dentalium^  whose  single  cells  when   separated 
cannot  completely  overcome  the   tendency  to    form   a 
part,  and   develop   into   monsters  resembling  pieces  of 
a    single     embryo  (and    the  same    result   is   achieved 
by    artificially   cutting  off  pieces  of   the    ^gg) ;    later, 
as    in   the    case    of  Amphioxus,  where   a    cell    of   the 
two-cell  stage  or  the  four-cell  stage  may  develop  into  a 
complete  dwarf  adult,  either  half  or  quarter  size.      A 
suggested     solution    of   this    phenomenon    consists    in 
assuming     the    various    protoplasmic    constituents    as 
arranged  in  bands  or  zones.^      In   Amphioxus  the  first 
division  would  divide  these  symmetrically  and  equally. 

^  Cf.  E.  B.  Wilson,  Science,  vol.  xxi.  No.  530. 
117 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

In  Dentalium  the  division  may  be  apparently  symmetri- 
cal but  really  qualitative,  so  that  all  of  one  band  or 
zone  passes  into  one  of  the  cells. 

Further,  it  is  difficult  to  surrender  the  belief  that 
differentiation  of  a  kind,  slight  perhaps  but  still 
effective,  has  occurred  much  earlier,  even  previous  to 
fertilisation,  for  the  ^gg  has  a  developmental  history 
antecedent  to  that  experience.  These  axial  differentia- 
tions are  probably  due  to  the  nucleus,  and  form  the 
scaffolding  as  it  were  within  which  the  development 
after  fertilisation  goes  on.  The  ability  to  readjust 
displayed  by  the  isolated  blastomeres  largely  depends 
on  the  degree  to  which  this  scaffolding  has  been 
effectively  reared. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this 
ability  of  the  cells  of  an  embryo  to  reproduce  the 
whole  organism  is  confined  merely  to  the  earliest 
stages  of  the  developing  form.  Cells  do  become 
differentiated,  and  this  seems  to  imply  nuclear  differ- 
entiation of  some  sort,  even  if  not  after  the  manner  of 
qualitative  division.  It  is  possible  that  part  of  the 
chromatin  may  be  cast  out  of  the  nucleus,  or  dissolved, 
or  be  transformed  into  something  else.  The  former 
circumstance  has  been  indeed  observed  in  the  early 
somatic  cells  of  the  developing  Ascaris  by  Boveri. 
Driesch's  conception  of  the  nucleus  as  a  "  storehouse 
of  ferments  which  pass  out  into  the  cytoplasm  and 
there  set  up  specific  activities,"  ^  is  at  least  interesting. 
Certain  it  is  that  "  specific  protoplasmic  stuffs "  are 
distributed  to  the  cells  in  a  definite  manner  during 
division  ;  and  since  they  have  a  definite  arrangement 
in  the  ^gg,  to  this  extent  development  is  mechanical, 
and  "  the  cleavage  mosaic  is  an  actual  mosaic  of 
different  materials  that  are  somehow  causally  connected 

1  Wilson,  The  Cell,  p.  427. 
118 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

with  the  development  of  particular  parts."  ^  If  it 
could  be  shown  that  initially  protoplasm  contains  only 
a  few  of  these  specific  stuffs,  that  as  development 
proceeds  new  stuffs  are  progressively  formed  and 
distributed,  and  finally  that  their  number  decreases 
and  that  they  weaken  as  differentiation  progresses,  we 
should  have  an  interpretation  of  development  that  is 
essentially  epigenetic — progressive  in  the  sense  that 
new  additional  parts  not  already  there  are  formed : 
and  in  this  combination  of  the  two  older  and  contrasted 
view-points  of  preformation  and  epigenesis,  the  truth 
is  probably  to  be  found. 

With  all  this  we  must  not  forget  the  dominating 
role  of  the  environment  in  all  development :  without 
its  stimuli  the  inherited  organisation  of  the  living 
creature  would  not  work  itself  out.  The  living  form 
is  at  any  moment  the  resultant  of  external  stimuli 
acting  upon  its  inherited  organisation.  This  has  been 
experimentally  proved  time  and  again.  A  normal 
development  is  the  response  to  normal  conditions. 
In  the  case  of  the  humbler  forms  of  life  the  character 
of  the  response  is  mainly  determined  by  the  inherited 
organisations.  As  life  advances,  the  inherited  organ- 
isation counts  for  less  and  less  until  in  man  the 
environment  has  the  last  word.  The  developing 
organism  and  its  environment  react  the  one  upon  the 
other  independently ;  yet  in  virtue  of  its  adaptiveness 
the  organism  is  progressively  able  to  set  itself  free 
from  the  control  of  the  physical  environment  and 
proves  itself  the  more  victorious  of  the  two.  Their 
separation  is,  however,  practically  impossible  :  we  are 
almost  compelled  to  consider  the  organism  and  its 
environment  as  a  single  system  undergoing  change. 

In  conclusion,  we  reaffirm    that  in  that  marvellous 

^  Wilson,  Science,  vol.  xxi.  p.  288. 
119 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

co-ordinating  pov/er  that  guides  individual  development 
rhythmically  and  orderly  to  its  goal  we  find  that  which 
is  ultimate.     Of  its  existence  there  can   be  no  doubt, 
for  we  have  become  aware  of  it  at  many  points  of  our 
biological   study.      We   see   it  in  various  adjustments 
and  regulations  that  characterise  outstanding  features 
in  metabolism,  e.g.  the  maintenance  of  a    practically 
constant  quality  and   quantity  of  the  blood.      We  see 
it  in   the  wide  range    and    intense   specificity    of    the 
relations  that   are  involved   in   immunity.^      We  see  it 
in  the  segregation  of  distinctive  cells  for  the  modified 
repetition   of  the  parental  history.      We  see  it  further 
in  the  marshalled  progress  of  these  cells  to  a  distinctive 
and   predictable  end   in   the  production   of  a  complex 
organism  functioning  as  a  unity,  and  that  in   spite  of 
their  proven  capacities  at  least  in  the  early  stages  to 
serve  in  other  ways,  in  spite  also  of  the  appearance  at 
later  stages  of  localised  self-differentiation    and  inde- 
pendent development.      And   particularly  is   it  evident 
in  those  pathological  cases    where,   after   artificial    re- 
arrangement or  destruction  of  some  of  the  cells  at  an 
early  stage  in   development,  the  particular  destiny  is 
yet  harmoniously  achieved  in  a  way  that  excludes  the 
crude  conception  of  an  underlying  mechanism.      What 
this  ordered  control  is  in  itself  we  have  no  knowledge. 
This  autonomous  control   and  guidance  for  a  definite 
end — the  typical   adult  form  of  the  organism — is  that 
which  rides  athwart  the  various   forces  at  work   in   the 
arena  of  the  living  form,  non-factorial,  yet  uniting  all 
other    factors ;   it    is   that    wherein    livingness   consists. 
In  any  description  of  organic  phenomena,  as  we  have 
seen,  we  find  ourselves  treating  of  physical  phenomena, 
osmosis,  surface  tensions  and  so  forth,  but  though  they 

^  n.  Driesch,  The  Science  and  Philosophy  of  the  Organism^  vol.  i.  pp. 
204-209. 

120 


PRINCIPLES  OF  BIOLOGY 

enter  into  the  account,  they  do  not  account  for  life. 
Indeed,  they  are  simply  in  its  employ.  We  fling  the 
fine-drawn  network  of  our  physical  and  chemical 
concepts  over  the  living  thing,  thinking  that  we  have 
encompassed  it,  but  it  comes  oozing  out  through  the 
meshes  and  cannot  be  held,  for  it  is  subtler  than  all 
our  thoughts  of  it.  As  Wilson  puts  it,  ''  we  no  more 
know  how  the  organisation  of  the  germ-cell  involves 
the  properties  of  the  adult  body  than  we  know  how 
the  properties  of  hydrogen  and  oxygen  involve  those 
of  water."  ^  In  the  case  of  the  individual  history 
whereby  the  acorn  develops  into  the  oak  and  not  into 
an  elm,  and  the  fertilised  egg  of  the  butterfly  travels 
by  a  wondrous  road  to  its  destiny  and  not  along  any 
of  the  other  250,000  insect  routes,  we  may  marvel  at 
this  power ;  but  in  the  history  of  the  race  where  the 
steps  have  been  infinitely  greater  and  the  time  element 
immensely  longer  we  behold  it  in  greater  glory.^ 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  433. 

-  As  these  pages  have  been  passing  through  the  press,  attention  has  been 
focussed  on  some  of  the  problems  discussed  in  them,  as  the  result  of  the 
masterly  address  of  the  President  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  1912.  In  it  the  opinion  is  hazarded  that  "the 
possibility  of  the  production  of  life — i.e.  of  living  material — is  not  so  remote 
as  has  been  generally  assumed,"  while  the  conclusion  is  held  to  be  "forced 
upon  us"  that  "the  evolution  of  non-living  into  living  substance  has 
happened  more  than  once — and  we  can  be  by  no  means  sure  that  it  may 
not  be  happening  still."  The  fact,  however,  that  life  in  its  simplest  mani- 
festations always  shows  organisation, — which  is  more  than  structure, — 
together  with  all  that  is  implied  in  the  conception  of  a  history  of  life,  viz. 
that  not  merely  life  itself  but  the  environment  of  its  production  and  evolu- 
tion have  been  correlatively  subjects  of  a  broadly  progressive  change,  makes 
it  difficult  to  conceive  that  life  will  return  upon  itself,  so  to  speak,  even  in 
the  laboratory  of  the  experimenter.  No  form  of  life  once  extinct  has,  so 
far  as  we  know,  again  appeared,  and  only  in  the  most  superficial  of  aspects 
can  it  be  said  that  history  repeats  itself. 


121 


CHAPTER    V 

EVOLUTION 

In  the  varied  modern  uses  of  the  term  Evolution  we 
may  see  an  interesting  example  of  a  word  outgrowing 
and  outliving  its  original  significance,  till  it  has  developed 
a  wealth  of  connotation  that  embraces  the  universe 
itself.  Originally,  the  word  Evolution  was  applied  to 
a  specific  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  individual  life 
which  was  held  by  certain  eighteenth-century  natural- 
ists. They  believed  that  every  egg  contained  a 
preformed  invisible  rudimentary  structure  that  corre- 
sponded, part  for  part,  to  the  adult  form.  Thus 
development  was  the  unfolding  and  transformation  of 
a  pre-existing  structure,  not  the  successive  formation 
of  new  parts.  Just  as  one  day  the  tightly  closed 
sepals  of  the  green  bud  unfold  and  disclose  the 
coloured  stamens  and  petals  that  have  apparently  been 
growing  under  their  cover  from  mere  miniatures  in 
secret,  so  did  the  old  evolutionists  (or  preformationists) 
consider  that  the  diminutive  transparent  parts  of  the 
germ  gradually  grew  until  the  day  of  their  manifesta- 
tion to  the  outer  world.  To  this  theory  the  name  of 
Evolution  was  given.  Observation  quickly  showed 
that  no  such  simple  growth  took  place,  and  a  more 
correct  view  was  enunciated  in  the  rival  doctrine 
of  Epigenesis,  viz.  that  development  was  no  mere 
unfolding   of  parts   already  existent,  but  the  gradual 

122 


EVOLUTION 

and  continual  formation  and  differentiation  of  structures 
and  organs  not  previously  existent  as  such  in  the  egg. 
The  word  being  useful,  however,  was  retained  to 
express  the  idea  of  development  in  general,  and  while 
originally  applied  to  the  growth  of  the  organic  in- 
dividual, whether  plant  or  animal,  from  the  egg,  was 
soon  employed  in  connection  with  the  development 
of  features  related  to  human  life,  such  as  language, 
political  constitutions,  etc.,  and  has  even  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  realm  of  the  inorganic,  and  finally  to  the 
process  of  the  universe  itself.  Such  transference  is  not 
a  recent  movement.  Swedenborg  and  Kant  indeed 
held  theories  of  Cosmic  Evolution  though  not  in  name, 
in  the  types  of  nebular  hypothesis  associated  with 
them.  To-day,  on  the  other  hand,  modern  physics  is 
specially  busied  with  the  evolution  of  the  atom  and 
the  transmutation  of  the  elements.  Organic  evolution 
occupies  but  a  moment  in  inorganic  evolution,  which 
has  been  the  immensely  longer  process;  yet  we  are  not 
prepared  to  consider  the  latter  as  therefore  the  more 
inclusive  process  as  it  were,  or  to  think  of  the  former 
as  but  an  incident  in  the  latter. 

In  all  these  varied  processes  of  "  becoming,"  the 
root  idea  is  that  of  change.  Evolution  is  the  history 
of  changing  forms,  organic  or  inorganic,  as  affected  by 
unchanging  laws.  The  process  of  inquiry  has  been 
marked  by  the  persistent  dissipation  of  associations  of 
permanence  with  the  material — planet  and  atom  alike 
prove  to  be  unstamped  with  it — and  by  the  emergence 
of  conceptions  of  spiritual  energy  as  that  which  alone 
endures.  When  inquiry  is  made  into  the  character, 
direction,  and  ideal  significance  of  these  changes,  we  go 
beyond  the  merely  descriptive  account,  and  the  facts  of 
Evolution  become  the  basis  of  a  philosophy.^ 

^  As,  e.^.j  Herbert  Spencer's  Synthetic  Philosophy. 
123 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

The  facts  of  change  have  only  been  gradually 
appreciated  in  their  tremendous  significance.  Nothing 
organic  or  inorganic  is  as  it  was  half  an  hour  ago,  even 
as  no  one  dipping  his  hand  in  a  river  can  be  twice  wet 
with  the  same  water,  and  all  these  changes  are  greater 
than  they  appear.  We  recollect  the  old-time  dictum 
that  the  substance  of  the  human  body  is  entirely 
changed  within  every  seven  years,  but  a  24-hour 
record  of  a  human  life  in  a  scale  pan  would  show 
a  continuous  oscillation  of  level,  corresponding  to  the 
varying  weight  in  body.  To-day  we  have  learned  to 
extend  these  records  of  change  past  the  individual 
life  to  that  of  the  species,  the  class,  the  race.  Yet 
fixity  of  type  was  the  catchword  of  science  in  the 
middle  of  last  century;  the  everlasting  hills  are  still 
the  joy  of  poetry.  "  I  believe,"  said  the  rose  to  the 
lily  in  the  parable,  "  I  believe  that  our  gardener  is 
immortal.  I  have  watched  him  from  day  to  day  since 
I  bloomed,  and  I  see  no  change  in  him.  The  tulip 
who  died  yesterday  told  me  the  same  thing."  ^  Because 
of  the  shortness  of  human  life  compared  with  the 
duration  of  the  world  processes  men  spoke  of  individual 
things,  even  of  species,  as  permanent — as  if  a  child 
should  gaze  at  a  clock  for  a  moment  and  roundly 
declare  that  the  hands  stood  still.  Brief  as  the 
lightning  flash  with  its  momentary  revelation  of  seeming 
repose  amidst  the  agitation  of  a  stormy  night,  is  the  life 
of  man  compared  with  the  chronicles  of  life  in  Nature. 
Similarly  under  the  casual  flash  of  his  untrained  intellect 
the  phase  of  nature  amidst  which  man  momentarily 
moved,  appeared  to  him  unchanged  and  motion- 
less. From  this  illusion  in  part  there  arose  the 
theory  of  the  permanence  of  type,  an  illusion  that 
still   persists  in  the   tendency  to    consider  the    pheno- 

^  Quoted  in  D.  S.  Jordan's  Footnotes  to  Evolution,  p.  56. 
I  24 


EVOLUTION 

mena  of  heredity  as  more  fundamental  than  those  of 
variation. 

Most  commonly  the  term  Evolution  is  used  to 
denote  that  theory  of  organic  existence  which  accounts 
for  the  origin  of  organs  and  of  species  by  divergence 
and  development  from  ancestral  stocks,  or,  in  a 
narrower  sense,  maintains  that  all  the  forms  of  life  now 
existing  or  that  have  existed  on  the  earth  have  sprung 
from  a  few  primitive  forms,  possibly  from  one.  This 
theory  was  at  first  merely  a  working  hypothesis,  but 
all  contrary  hypotheses  have  long  since  ceased  to  work. 
Its  success  particularly  in  explaining  many  phenomena 
of  detail  that  are  otherwise  inexplicable  has  been 
especially  impressive.  Things  are  because  of  their 
significance,  and  like  some  new  Rosetta  Stone,  Evolu- 
tion supplies  a  key  to  numbers  of  hitherto  undeciphered 
data.  All  modern  biological  investigation  assumes 
its  truth.  In  fact,  no  naturalist  whose  studies  give  him 
the  right  to  an  opinion  on  the  origin  of  species  now 
holds  the  older  views  :  he  could  not  do  so  and  "  look 
an  animal  in  the  face." 

In  ordinary  usage  the  terms  Evolution,  Organic 
Evolution,  and  Theory  of  Descent  are  often  employed 
synonymously,  but  it  is  important  to  note  that  the 
term  Evolution  is  not  strictly  equivalent  to  the  un- 
fortunate word  Darwinism.  Evolution  is  a  theory  as 
to  the  general  method  by  which  species  have  been 
introduced  into  the  world,  independent  of  any  idea  as 
to  the  causes  or  agencies  which  have  brought  about 
their  introduction.  Darwinism  is  Evolution,  but  it  is 
something  more ;  it  is  at  the  same  time  an  attempt 
to  explain  the  causes  of  Evolution.  It  not  only  claims 
that  species  have  been  slowly  evolved  from  one 
another,  but  particularly  in  Natural  Selection,  as  also 
in  Sexual  Selection  and  the  theory  of  Pangenesis,  it 

125 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

offered  some  account  of  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  arisen  and  of  the  laws  which  govern  their  gradual 
modification.  Accordingly  it  is  possible  to  accept 
Evolution  and  yet  at  the  same  time  to  reject 
Darwinism,  i.e.  it  is  possible  to  believe  that  species 
have  been  evolved  from  each  other,  but  to  deny  that 
Darwin  suggested  a  sufficient  cause  for  this  Evolution. 

This  distinction  with  its  implications  should  be 
clearly  grasped,  as  otherwise  it  is  difficult  to  appraise 
correctly  certain  extreme  statements  that  creep  into 
modern  biological  literature.  Thus  E.  Dennert 
entitles  a  book  Vom  Sterbelager  des  Darwinismus. 
Von  Uexkiill  writes :  "  We  stand  on  the  eve  of  a 
scientific  bankruptcy,  whose  consequences  are  as  yet 
incalculable.  Darwinism  is  to  be  stricken  from  the 
list  of  scientific  theories."  ^  Or,  again,  "  Concerning 
the  origin  of  species  we  know,  after  fifty  years  of 
unparalleled  effort  and  investigation,  only  the  one 
thing,  that  it  does  not  take  place  as  Darwin  thought  it 
did.  A  positive  enrichment  of  our  knowledge  has 
not  resulted.  The  whole  enormous  intellectual  labour 
was  in  vain."  ^  Such  intemperance  of  language  is 
unscientific,  whatever  else  it  may  be,  and  can  only  pre- 
judice the  case  in  whose  interests  it  is  uttered. 

In  any  discussion  of  the  relations  of  scientific  and 
religious  thought.  Evolution  will  find  a  place  if  only 
because  of  its  potency  as  a  unifying  agent  in  the 
world  of  data.  The  conception  of  the  unity  of 
knowledge  naturally  suggests  the  idea  of  foundation 
lines  along  which  this  stately  temple  shall  be  built. 
Such  a  foundation  line  is  Evolution,  extending  so  far 
as  is  known  through  every  department  of  knowledge, 
and  offering  a  beautiful  example  of  the  mutual  benefit 

^  Scieniia,  vol.  iv.,  No.  7,  p.  3. 
2  Zeitschrift f.  Biol.y  vol.  1.  p.  168. 

126 


EVOLUTION 

to  one  another  of  the  scientific  and  the  theological  out- 
looks on  God  and  the  world.  For  while  in  its  light  the 
scientific  theologian  has  reached  in  some  respects  a 
nobler  and  a  purer  conception  of  God,  he  can  also 
show  that  without  the  inclusion  of  a  purposive  factor 
it  can  in  no  sense  pretend  to  completeness  or 
satisfaction  as  the  story  of  the  world.  For  him 
intention  is  the  bond  that  binds  him  to  nature  and 
links  both  with  God ;  the  world  that  he  inhabits  is  a 
"realm  of  ends."  In  Evolution  men  have  come  to 
perceive  God's  method  of  creation  in  time,  even  as 
gravitation  deals  with  the  relations  of  things  in  space. 
It  forbids  us  any  longer  to  think  of  the  world  as  of 
some  structure  carpentered  at  a  definite  point  in  time ; 
rather  does  it  teach  us  to  look  on  it  as  a  growth.  The 
Paleyan  symbol  was  a  watch ;  the  type  of  Evolution 
is  a  flower  :  and  while  the  watch  stopped  more  than 
half  a  century  ago,  the  flower  is  still  a  living,  repro- 
ductive, progressive,  and  didactic  thing.  From  it  we 
learn  that  progress  is  gradual,  "  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear ; " — that  is 
Evolution  in  the  individual  life.  It  teaches  us  in  a 
way  that  we  had  not  realised  before,  that  the  present 
is  the  child  of  the  past  by  direct  descent,  and  that  the 
future  has  its  roots  in  the  present.  It  makes  us 
regard  revolution  as  unnatural,  and  it  also  shows  us 
that  reformation  may  be  very  slow.  It  compels  us  to 
take  a  larger  view  of  things — not  to  estimate  the 
stream  of  life  by  the  little  circling  eddies,  nor  yet  by 
the  contrary  surface  currents  such  as  may  often  be  seen 
on  mile-broad  Asiatic  rivers,  but  by  the  whole  flood, 
grand,  full-watered,  irresistible,  as  it  sweeps  towards 
its  ever-nearing  goal.  There  are,  of  course,  the  eddies, 
for  advance  in  any  given  direction  may  not  be  uniform ; 
there  are  the  backward    surface  currents,  for  palaeon- 

127 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

tology  tells  us  of  apparent  recession  in  the  progress  of 
individual  species  ;  there  are  the  rapids,  for  successive 
strata  sometimes  disclose  a  quick  advance  in  the 
development  of  forms  under  congenial  circumstances ; 
there  are  the  pool-like,  seemingly  motionless  tracts, 
for  we  have  evidence  of  partial  temporary  stagnation 
in  the  otherwise  progressive  movement,  of  genera  that 
often  rested,  marking  time  in  the  age-long  march. 
We  must  not  judge  the  stream  by  the  eddy  or  the 
counter-current,  by  the  rapid  or  by  the  pool-like  tract, 
but  by  the  whole  course. 

Evolution  accordingly  may  be  defined  ^  as  a  process 
of  continuous,  orderly,  and  broadly  progressive  change, 
from  the  simple  to  the  more  complex,  which  arises  as 
the  resultant  of  various  factors,  operating  from  within 
and  from  without.  Typically  we  see  it  in  all 
embryonic  development,  that  marvellous  process  by 
which  a  fertilised  egg-cell  grows  by  segmentation  and 
concomitant  differentiation  into  an  organism  of  its  own 
species.  In  the  development  of  the  hen  from  a 
microscopic  germ-cell  through  the  intermediate  stage 
of  the  chick  into  the  adult,  we  have  an  instance  of 
continuous,  orderly,  and  broadly  progressive  change, 
from  the  simple  to  the  more  complex,  which  arises 
as  the  resultant  of  various  factors  operating  from 
within  and  from  without. 

But  the  statement  implies  more  than  at  first  appears. 
Evolution  is  change  with  continuity.^  This  we  know 
to  be  the  case  in  every  instance  of  individual  develop- 
ment. Bird  and  beast,  fish  and  creeping  thing,  man 
himself,  all  begin  life  as  a  single  cell — commence 
where    the    Protozoa    left    off— and    so    pass    through 

1  This  definition  is  a  modification  of  that  set  forth  in  Le  Conte's  Evolution 
and  its  Relation  to  Religious  Thought^  p.  8. 
-  i.e.  of  content,  rather  than  of  time. 

128 


EVOLUTION 

many  different  stages  into  the  adult  organism  of  their 
kind.  In  this  instance  the  terms  of  the  series 
obviously  have  genetic  connection.  With  regard  to 
that  other  series,  so  imposing  in  its  grandeur,  beginning 
with  life  itself  in  the  far-back  pre- Cambrian  days  and 
comprehending  all  the  countless  forms  that  have 
peopled  Primary,  Secondary,  Tertiary,  and  Quaternary 
eras  —  forms  likewise  growing  in  complexity  of 
structure,  in  the  mutual  action  of  their  correlated 
parts,  and  in  their  inter-action  with  the  environment — 
the  evolutionary  suggestion  is  that  its  terms  likewise 
have  a  genetic  connection,  and  leave  their  impress  on 
the  individual  series. 

If  Evolution  implies  continuity,  it  is  inconsistent 
with  the  idea  of  "  breaks  "  in  the  succession.  A  clear 
understanding  at  this  point  would  mean  the  solution 
of  half  of  our  difficulties.  Everything  of  course  will 
depend  upon  the  content  of  the  word  "  break."  When 
the  temperature  of  water  is  raised  from  99°  to  100°  C. 
under  ordinary  atmospheric  pressure  it  vaporises :  in  a 
certain  sense  there  is  a  "break."  The  study  of 
mutations  is  a  study  in  *'  breaks."  Yet  whatever  be 
the  series,  organic  or  inorganic,  every  term  is  in  some 
degree  linked  to  that  preceding  it.  Something  from  a 
preceding  stage  is  always  carried  over  to  the  next. 
There  is  never  absolutely  complete  initiation.  If 
creation  is  held  to  mean  production  out  of  nothing, 
initiation  without  any  precedent  relation,  it  is  an  effect 
that  is  contrary  to  all  experience  and  in  which  there 
is  nothing  of  Evolution.  Such  absolute  "  breaks  "  are 
commonly  cited  at  the  commencement  of  the  evolu- 
tionary process,  at  the  dawn  of  life,  at  the  appearance 
of  sentiency,  at  the  awakening  of  self-consciousness. 
An  older  apologetic  filled  in  the  "  breaks "  with 
divinity,  but  what  it  fondly  considered  to  be  its 
I  129 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

strongholds  proved  its  most  vulnerable  points.  The 
difficulty  about  these  "  breaks "  is  that  they  are 
supposed  to  occur  at  periods  about  which  we  have  no 
knowledge,  and  of  which  we  can  never  hope  to  learn 
the  exact  conditions.  Thus  Principal  Chapman's  "  vast 
diffiision  of  ultimate  units  of  Matter,  each  like  the 
other  in  every  respect,  each  subject  to  equal  pressure 
and  tension,"  ^  awaiting  some  divine  contact — some 
breath,  some  touch — to  start  it  on  its  evolutionary 
career,  is  wholly  hypothetical.  With  regard  to  the 
dawn  of  life  it  does  not  follow,  as  has  often  been 
pointed  out,  that  although  Biogenesis  is  the  only 
known  law  of  reproduction  now,  the  conditions 
requisite  for  Abiogenesis  have  never  occurred.  We 
cannot  say  definitely  what  these  conditions  were,  yet 
we  can  be  tolerably  certain  that  the  lands  and,  par- 
ticularly for  this  purpose,  the  seas  of  late  Archaean 
times  were  very  different  from  any  modern  conditions, 
terrestrial  or  marine.  They  are  conditions  that  will 
never  return,  and  are  not  humanly  reproducible.  The 
belief  in  such  a  natural  origin  of  life  is  an  exigency  of 
thought.  Again,  if  the  term  is  employed  in  its 
broadest  significance,  the  appearance  of  sentiency,  i,e, 
irritability,  synchronises  with  the  dawn  of  life,  and 
another  break  has  been  removed.  We  are  left  with 
the  awakening  to  self-consciousness.  But  even  this 
crisis  presents  no  difficulty  to  the  modern  scientific 
mind  :  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  actually  bridged  in  the 
development  of  every  child.^  No,  there  have  been 
no  breaks.  Evolution  is  continuous  change ;  it  is 
continuity,  and  God  has  been  immanent  from  the 
beginning.      In  the  process  there  is    a  great  deal  that 

^  C.    Chapman,  Preorganic   Evolution    and  the  Biblical  Idea  of  God, 
p.  151. 

2Cf.    p.    310. 

130 


EVOLUTION 

is  little  understood,  and  much  that  is  unknown,  but  the 
days  are  past  when  the  unknown,  the  gap  in  our 
knowledge,  is  emphasised  as  the  sure  abode  of  the 
divine.  Rather  is  it  realised  that  the  whole  process 
is  instinct  with  divinity,  and  nowhere  is  it  more  obvious 
to  the  religious  philosopher  than  in  the  great  fact  of 
direction  in  general  and  in  detail  which  compels  him 
to  insist  on  the  recognition  of  a  directive  factor  in 
opposition  to  all  ultra-mechanical  conceptions  of 
Evolution.  To  recognise  the  spiritual  aspect  of 
Evolution  is  to  believe  in  it  as  directed  by  an  over- 
ruling yet  indwelling  purpose,  a  process  with  no  breaks 
but  of  rare  continuity  and  yet  with  "  increments," — 
crises  greater  in  their  implications  than  in  the  actual 
moment,  points  after  which  everything  thereafter 
moved  in  a  new  dimension,  as  in  the  birthday  of  life, — 
flood  plains  of  the  river  of  life  which  marked 
successively  higher  contours  in  the  regions  of  the 
world's  action,  as  in  the  dawning  of  self-consciousness, 
and  the  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ. 

But  it  is  more :  it  is  continuous,  orderly  change. 
The  order  is  the  expression  of  what  is  often  called 
"  the  reign  of  law."  In  science  the  connotation  of  the 
term  is  very  different  from  that  which  jurisprudence 
attaches  to  it,  and  in  consequence  of  this  ambiguity 
some  writers  have  been  led  into  strange  confusion.^ 
In  the  latter  sphere  we  associate  with  the  word  the 
conception  of  something  "(i)  expressible  as  a  distinct 
proposition,  (2)  addressed  to  the  will  of  a  rational  being, 
and  (3)  enforceable  by  a  sanction."  ^  In  the  realms  of 
science  the  idea  is  quite  otherwise :  there  it  appears  as 
an  abstract  or  general  conception  of  a  supposed  uni- 

^  For  examples  see  article  "Law"  by  Prof.  Hearnshaw,  The  Hibberi 
Journal,  vol.  vi.  No.  3. 

2  YioYuxv^y  Jurisprudence,  p.  21  :  quoted  by  Hearnshaw. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

versal  uniformity  of  action  deduced  from  the  observa- 
tion of  illustrative  phenomena  in  a  limited  number  of 
instances.  In  formulation  a  law  of  science  should 
always  take  a  conditional  form, — if  such  and  such 
conditions  are  present,  such  and  such  results  will 
follow.  Nevertheless,  the  law  is  simply  a  generalised 
statement,  a  conceptual  shorthand  report  of  Nature's 
observed  uniformities  of  action,  and  never  can  be  any- 
thing else  than  a  more  or  less  provisional  hypothesis 
to  minds  experimentally  less  than  omniscient.  The 
confusion  arises  in  identifying  the  ascertained  sequences 
themselves  with  the  law,  whereas  it  is  but  a  statement 
of  them,  or  in  hypostatically  conceiving  the  law  as  the 
energy  or  force  in  virtue  of  whose  uniform  operation 
the  observed  regular  sequences  take  place,  and  so 
subjecting  phenomena  to  it,  as  if  the  law  were  an 
objective  determining  agent.  From  this  it  is  but  a  step 
to  carry  natural  laws  behind  things  as  it  were,  and 
regard  them  as  pre-existent  necessities  which  explain 
everything  but  are  themselves  in  no  need  of  explanation. 
Strictly,  however,  we  know  nothing  of  what  is  necessary  ; 
our  knowledge  is  simply  of  what  has  been  proved  to 
occur  under  specific  conditions.  Natural  laws  may 
apply  in  any  particular  series  of  circumstances  ;  they 
do  not,  however,  necessarily  imply.  According  to 
Newton's  Law  of  Gravitation,  every  particle  in  the 
universe  attracts  every  other  particle  with  a  force  which 
acts  in  the  line  joining  them,  and  which  is  directly 
proportional  to  the  product  of  the  masses,  and  inversely 
proportional  to  the  square  of  their  distance  apart. 
Why  might  it  not  have  been  inversely  as  the  cube  of 
the  distance  ?  A  natural  law  is  simply  the  expression 
of  a  relation  :  it  is  not  the  relation ;  still  less  is  it  its 
cause. 

In  the  article  referred  to.  Professor  Hearnshaw  shows 
132 


EVOLUTION 

how  in  the  moral  sphere  both  senses  of  the  term  find 
application,  and  call  for  even  greater  care  in  discrimina- 
tion. Moral  law  appears  both  in  the  form  of  sanction 
— enforced  precept — and  uniform  sequence.  "  Pray 
without  ceasing,"  says  Paul :  ^  "  This  is  the  confidence 
that  we  have  in  Him,  that,  if  we  ask  anything  according 
to  His  will.  He  heareth  us,"  says  John.^  The  deepest 
sanction  arises  from  recognition  of  the  results  of  such 
uniformity  in  human  life,  and  when  one  reflects  on  the 
Cause  of  the  uniformity,  the  latter  in  its  results  comes 
to  take  on  the  form  of  an  implied  command.  And 
inasmuch  as  no  series  of  sequences  ever  makes  a  law, 
this  aspect  of  law  as  that  which  is  commanded  or 
ordained  becomes  ultimate.  The  affirmation  of  natural 
law  is  the  affirmation  of  something  more  than  mere 
series  of  sequences :  it  is  the  acknowledgment  of  a 
persistent  and  sustaining  cause  of  these  sequences, 
which  we  are  driven  to  find  in  the  Divine  Energy 
itself — energy  expressive  of  and  emanating  from 
the  Divine  Will.  But  this  Will  in  turn  is  but  an  ex- 
pression of  the  divine  mind,  so  that  the  "  reign  of  law  " 
merely  comes  to  be  the  physical  counterpart  of  the 
divine  immanence.  The  physicist  looks  at  the  data 
and  says,  "  It  is  all  law " :  the  philosopher  ponders 
them  and  concludes,  "  It  is  all  mind  " :  but  the  greatest 
induction  is  that  of  the  man  who  has  lived  through  it 
all,  noting  the  resultant  of  the  various  sequences  in  the 
case  of  his  own  experience,  and  who  can  truthfully  say 
at  the  end,  "  It  was  all  love." 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  advance  of  science 
consists  in  the  recognition  of  ever  increasing  numbers 
of  these  grouped  relations  which  in  their  constancy  and 
interaction  elicit  our  admiration.  They  are  the  result 
of  processes  all  of  which  are  natural,  and  it  is  the  ideal 

^  I  Thess.  V.  17.  "I  John  v.  14  ;  cf.  also  i  John  iii.  22. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

of  science  to  give  a  complete  account  of  them  all.  The 
creation  of  man  or  the  growth  of  a  state  are  as  much 
natural  processes  as  the  flowering  of  a  lily  or  the  growth 
of  a  sand  dune.  And  all  are  supernatural  in  the  sense 
that  they  are  alike  expressions  of  the  invisible  solidity 
of  the  universe,  the  immanence  of  law,  and  the  im- 
perishability of  energy.  Science  has  her  ideal,  but 
however  much  we  may  feel  doubtful  as  to  the  ability 
of  the  human  mind  to  realise  all  the  laws,  for  example, 
of  the  science  of  life,  yet  we  are  none  the  less  sure  that 
these  laws  never  fail.  This  very  uniformity,  however, 
the  basis  of  all  scientific  endeavour  and  the  comfort  of 
the  religious  mind,^  has  in  many  cases  by  a  curious 
inversion  proved  the  greatest  stumbling-block  to  re- 
ligious faith.  To  such  minds  the  only  proof  of  Deity 
for  an  age  of  scepticism  would  be  to  see  a  law  of  Nature 
definitely  broken,  to  see  e.g.  a  real  burning  bush  un- 
consumed,  and  so  have  it  demonstrated  that  the  energy 
that  expresses  itself  in  law  can  also  show  itself  in  law- 
lessness, and  so  prove  itself  superior  to  all  its  limitations 
and  usual  epiphanies.  Thus  in  the  confusion  a  false 
emphasis  is  laid  upon  the  miracle.  The  most  the 
miracle  can  do  is  to  draw  attention  to  the  eternal 
truths  with  whose  promulgation  it  is  associated.  These 
truths  relate  in  part  to  the  essentially  spiritual  character 
of  the  world,  and  once  this  has  been  grasped  the 
individual  miracle  becomes  but  an  episode  in  the 
greater  miracle  of  the  whole.  I  have  seen  it  somewhere 
remarked  that  Emerson  in  one  of  his  Essays  speaks  of 
a  man's  purpose  in  life  "  to  be  sound  and  solvent,"  and 
Emerson's  life  at  any  rate  seems  to  have  had  this 
character,  whence  we  may  conclude  that  such  a  rule  of 
conduct  was  his  own.  "  But  one  may  say  '  This  is 
only  a  human  resolution.  The  man  himself  should  be 
'  Heb.  xiii.  8. 


EVOLUTION 

above  all  rules  and  requirements  of  his  own  making. 
Let  Mr.  Emerson  show  that  his  life  is  above  his  prin- 
ciples. Let  him  break  these  rules  to  show  his  power. 
Let  him  be  unsound  and  insolvent  for  a  time.  Then 
only  will  his  real  greatness  appear.'  But  the  sound- 
ness and  solvency  were  the  expression  of  Emerson's 
life :  without  these  he  would  not  be  Emerson."  ^  In 
like  manner  the  laws  of  Nature  are  the  expres- 
sions of  the  soundness  and  solvency  of  the  Infinite 
Energy.  A  broken  law  would  be  the  expression 
of  unsoundness  and  insolvency.  It  would  mean  the 
failure  of  the  universe :  in  that  sense  law  can  never  be 
broken.  The  demand  of  those  who  would  see  broken 
laws  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  old  Pharisees  for  a  sign. 
And  no  sign  shall  be  given  them.  For  the  man  who 
cannot  see  the  touch  of  divinity  in  the  life-activity  of 
the  cell  or  in  the  autumn  colouring  of  leaves,  who 
cannot  realise  the  majesty  and  power  of  God  in  the 
order  and  uniformity  of  Nature,  who  cannot  so  put 
himself  in  sympathy  with  Nature  that  Christ's  words 
concerning  her  seem  to  him  instinctively  words  of 
truth,  and  so  words  of  God  because  they  are  the  words 
of  truth,  has  injured  his  soul  and  will  not  believe  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead,  still  less  that  One  rose  from  the 
dead.  To  demand  such  interference  is  to  go  back  to 
the  early  Israelitish  conception  of  a  capricious  God. 
And  yet  we  do  not  say  that  God  does  not  interfere. 
Man  interferes  with  the  order  of  Nature,  and  what  is 
possible  with  man  may  well  be  possible  with  God. 
Man  interferes,  but  ever  in  obedience  to  other  laws. 
And  so  may  God  interfere,  but  in  no  lawless  way  : 
rather  through  the  medium  or  superposition  of  laws 
other  than  those  that  are  already  open  to  our  compre- 
hension. 

^  D.  S.  Jordan,  op.  cit.  p.  6i. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Again,  many  are  distressed  because  of  the  apparent 
insensibility  of  Nature.  She  goes  on  with  her  own 
affairs.  Mont  Pelee's  fiery  flood  envelops  sinner  and 
saint  alike:  Messina  falls  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust. 
Yet  this  attention  to  her  own  affairs,  this  ''  just  keeping 
on  the  same,"  as  we  say,  is  simply  the  expression  of 
the  solidity  of  the  universe.  A  law  of  Nature  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  nor  an  executor  of  human  justice. 
Just  as  a  varying  multiplication-table  would  be  the 
destruction  of  mathematics,  so  would  a  varying  law  of 
Nature  be  the  destruction  of  the  universe.  Constituted 
as  man  is,  life  would  be  impossible  even  for  a  day  if 
there  were  no  basal  uniformity  of  Nature :  without  it 
experience  would  be  valueless,  there  could  be  no  know- 
ledge, no  inducement  to  labour,  no  pabulum  for  faith. 
Not  otherwise  could  Nature  have  ever  been  an  orderly 
and  beautiful  means  of  intercourse  between  man  and 
God.  And  even  where  a  temporary  phase  of  Nature's 
process  seems  to  man  to  take  the  form  of  a  disaster,  it 
might  be  well  to  inquire  whether  that  principle  of 
judgment  is  soundly  and  broadly  based  which  condemns 
that  which  has  hurt  him.  For  if  in  some  inscrutable 
way  men  were  at  the  eleventh  hour  rescued  from  the 
consequences  of  some  natural  process  they  would  have 
gained  their  preservation  at  the  cost  of  their  lost  sense 
of  law  ;  they  would  feel  themselves  the  victims  of 
chance,  and  much  of  the  motive  for  right  conduct  would 
be  gone. 

With  regard  to  Messina  we  must  realise  that  given 
the  world  as  it  is — and  the  real  understanding  of 
what  it  is  more  than  removes  the  difficulty — such  a 
catastrophe  is  but  a  special  case  of  the  general  problem 
of  death.  In  a  world  where,  let  us  say,  30  million 
people  die  annually  of  disease,  accident,  or  physical 
exhaustion,  the  fact  that    100,000  died  in   such  con- 

136 


EVOLUTION 

tiguity  as  at  Messina  is  indeed  appalling,  but  in  itself, 

apart  from  the  mere   fact   of  numbers,   not   more   so 

than  the  sudden   death  of  any  intimate  friend.      Each 

one  of  these   men   and    women    died,   could    die   only 

once:  there  was  no  violation  of  the  order  of  Nature, 

and    an    innocent    saint    who  happens   unwittingly  to 

stand  athwart  the  forces  of  Nature  will  suffer,  yet  not 

in    his    soul.      But    the    righteous    perished    with    the 

unrighteous  !      Even  if  the  naive  assumption  that  such 

a  calamity  was  a  judgment  upon  sin  were  defensible, 

the   profounder    fact   would   remain   that    the    infinite 

shame  and  punishment  of  the  wicked  just  is  that  they 

involve  the  righteous  and  innocent  along  with  them. 

By  slow  degrees  man  wins  the  truths  that  set  him  free 

at   once   from   the   torment  of  mental   fears   and   the 

tyranny   of    natural   forces:    this    is    the    story  of   his 

evolution.     Yet    even    in  the  highest  civilisation   and 

under    the    most    beneficent   political  regime  he  may 

live  a  captive  in  the  prison  of  his  fears,  if  so  be  he  has 

no  sense  of  his  immortability.      But  in  the  mind  that 

realises  that  God  hath  set  eternity  in  the  heart  of  man, 

that  human   life  is   but  a  stage  in  a  long  process  of 

growth,  that    in  reaction  with  the  assertive  forces  of 

Nature  man  has  come  to  be  what  he  is,  so  that  out 

of    disaster    has    often    come     individual     and     racial 

salvation  alike, — in  such  a  mind  there  is  a  certainty  of 

good  that  the  fires  cannot  quench  nor  the  shakings  of 

the  earth  remove. 

But  Evolution  is  something  more :  it  is  continuous, 
orderly,  and  broadly  progressive  change,  from  the 
simple  to  the  more  complex.  To  say  "  broadly  pro- 
gressive" is  simply  to  read  the  facts.  At  the  same 
time  it  should  be  clearly  understood  that  Evolution 
and  progress  are  not  synonymous,  convertible  terms. 
Evolution  is  not  an  innate  tendency  towards  progression. 

137 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

There  is  no  single  law  of  progress  in  Nature,  nor 
is  progress  in  any  group  a  necessity  regardless  of 
conditions.  Degeneration  may  be  there,  or,  it  may 
be,  through  many  a  generation  the  type  persists 
unchanged.  The  laws  of  Evolution  have  in  them- 
selves no  necessary  principle  of  progress.  Their 
functions  each  and  all  may  be  defined  as  cosmic  order. 
Evolution  is  continuous  orderly  change,  but  it  is  only 
when  we  regard  the  stream  of  life  as  a  whole  without 
fixing  our  attention  on  the  pool-like  tracts  and  the 
contrary  surface  currents  that  the  general  progress  is 
appreciable. 

Inspection  of  the  geological  record  discloses  the 
fact  that  the  different  eras  have  been  dominated  by 
some  one  class  in  particular,  and  that  with  the  advance 
of  the  ages  the  members  of  these  ruling  dynasties  have 
belonged  to  successively  higher  orders  in  the  animal 
scale.  Mollusc,  fish,  reptile,  and  mammal,  roughly 
characteristic  of  the  Pre-Silurian,  Silurian,  Secondary, 
and  Tertiary  eras,  each  had  its  day  of  power  and  then 
fell  before  the  fitter  successor.  Yet  though  they  lost 
the  sceptre  they  did  not  utterly  perish,  but  proceeded 
to  occupy  a  humbler  station.  The  organic  kingdom 
has  ever  risen  in  its  highest  forms,  and  become  more 
and  more  complex  not  merely  in  constitution,  but  in 
range  of  commerce  and  adaptation  to  the  environ- 
ment. There  is  evidence  of  a  rhythmical  movement  in 
which  creation,  both  in  classes  and  types,  is  carried 
onwards  in  successively  higher  forms  that  bear  definite 
relations  to  preceding  forms. 

Finally,  Evolution  is  a  process  of  continuous,  orderly 
and  broadly  progressive  change  from  the  simple  to  the 
more  complex,  which  arises  as  the  resultant  of  several 
factors  operating  from  within  and  from  without.  Of 
these  the  best  understood  are  the  following :   Heredity 

138 


EVOLUTION 

in  virtue  of  which  like  tends  to  produce  like,  Variation 
resulting  in  the  differentiation  of  types,  Environment 
Natural  Selection  and  Sexual  Selection,  Isolation 
physiological  and  geographical,  Altruism,  and  what 
for  lack  of  better  language  may  be  termed  the 
Directive  factor. 

For  our  ultimate  theory,  whatever  it  be,  must  be 
one  that  will  cover  the  whole  range  of  experience 
down  to  the  last  detail.  And  while  Nature  appears 
as  a  realm  whose  operations  are  everywhere  orderly, 
and  capable,  so  far  as  they  are  understood,  of  being 
expressed  in  the  shorthand  formulae  that  are  familiar 
as  her  laws,  yet  is  it  just  as  certain  that  we  find  her 
capable  of  modification  not  merely  by  the  human  will 
realising  itself  in  and  through  these  laws,  but  we  also 
become  aware  of  other  modifications  on  a  larger  scale 
{e.g.  the  formation  of  the  Carboniferous  flora,  the 
efficiency  of  the  Ice  Age  in  the  formation  of  soil  seen 
in  the  transporting  of  great  rock  masses,  the  increased 
grinding  of  surfaces  to  gravel  and  clay,  and  the  in- 
tensified action  of  expanding  river  systems),  whose 
postponed  as  well  as  immediate  utility  tend  to  suggest 
that  they  find  their  origin  in  the  Divine  Reason.  At 
any  rate  such  a  conception  would  appear  to  be  more 
true  to  the  totality  of  fact  than  that  mechanical  view 
alien  to  thought  and  purpose  whose  sole  function 
seems  to  be  the  maintenance  of  the  sum  of  the  kinetic 
and  potential  energy  in  the  universe  as  a  constant 
quantity. 

It  is  here,  then,  that  we  find  the  dividing  line  between 
interpretations  of  Evolution  that  are  merely  mechanical 
and  those  that  find  in  it  spiritual  significance.  The 
data  are,  of  course,  unaffected,  whatever  be  the  theory 
of  them  :  they  are  always  there.  Any  change  in  our 
theory  about  the  data  will  not  affect  the  data ;  it  may 

139 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

affect  ourselves.  It  is  only  by  a  thorough  examination 
not  merely  of  the  process  but  of  each  of  its  several 
factors  that  we  find  their  insufficiency  to  account  for 
that  in  which  they  play  a  part. 

With  regard  to  the  factors  it  is  in  no  way  difficult 
to  show  that  those  of  the  forces  composing  them  which 
are  immediately  the  expression  of  purely  physical 
conditions  are  a  comparatively  insignificant  part  of 
the  whole.  Spirit  is  there  and  at  work :  when  it  is 
denied  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  religious  evolutionist, 
it  is  introduced  not  merely  into  the  particular  unit  like 
the  cell  but  even  into  the  atom  by  the  hard-pressed 
Haeckelian.  The  law  of  the  Conservation  of  Energy 
e.g.  says  nothing  as  to  when — quite  apart  from 
conditions — one  form  of  energy  is  changed  into  some 
equivalent  quantity  of  another,  or  into  which  it  is  so 
transferred :  that  depends  upon  many  qualitative 
factors.  However  expounded,  the  mechanical  solution, 
while  it  (and  here  only  partially)  succeeds  in  setting 
forth  the  series  of  changes  that  are  the  most  obvious 
components  of  the  process,  yet  fails  in  any  explanation 
of  the  concurrent  changes  in  the  progressive  whole. 
The  mechanical  theory  tells  us  truly  that  given  a,  b 
will  follow  as  an  effect ;  but  it  does  not  tell  us  why  a 
is  given  ;  we  are  left  in  ignorance  why  b  and  not  c  is 
the  resulting  effect :  or  if  answer  is  given  it  is  found 
in  a  barren  necessitarianism  out  of  which  you  get 
exactly  what  you  put  into  it.  It  is  this  "why"  that 
constantly  reminds  us  that  our  mechanical  conceptions 
are  after  all  mere  abstractions,  that  reality  may  be 
something  that  obeys  our  abstract  network  of  law,  and 
yet  is  something  greater  than  law,  greater  than  all  our 
explanations  of  it. 

Indeed,  we  find  that  as  the  chance  element  is  more 
and  more  eliminated — and  that  is  directly  in  propor- 

140 


EVOLUTION 

tion  to  the  advance  of  knowledge — the  certainty  of 
direction  becomes  more  and  more  impressive.  Darwin 
based  his  theory  on  fortuitous  variations  and  an 
indefinite  number  of  them.  The  modern  reply  is  that 
variation  is  a  definite  thing,  and  inquiry  is  meanwhile 
directed  into  the  origin  of  these  variations.  "  The 
materials  for  natural  selection  are  furnished  by  the 
ensemble  of  an  enormous  number  of  characters,  each  of 
which  is  a  unit  pursuing  its  independent  history  and 
fluctuating  and  mutating  and  moving  in  direct  lines 
under  laws  which  the  philosophic  palaeontologist  has 
proof  of,  but  totally  fails  to  understand.  Consequently 
he  assumes  the  agnostic  position  that  there  is  some 
principle,  or  principles  of  direction,  or  better  .  .  . 
*  unknown  agencies,'  still  to  be  discovered  other  than 
the  principle  of  order  coming  out  of  fortuity."  ^  It  is 
recognised  that  it  is  not  the  survival  of  the  fit  that 
calls  for  remark,  as  Schurman  long  ago  pointed  out. 
What  excites  our  interest  is  the  question  not  of  their 
survival  but  of  their  arrival ;  it  is  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  that  fitness  itself,  for  there  is  no  wonder  in 
the  survival  of  that  which  is  fit  to  survive.  Now,  if 
this  arrival  is  in  every  particular  definite,  if  evolution 
takes  place  along  definite  lines  of  growth  with  no 
break  indeed,  but  with  significant  crises,  then  every 
causal  force  is  retained  in  full  activity  as  the  naturalist 
requires,  but  in  addition  there  is  some  explanation  of 
the  systematic  character  and  the  continuity  of  the 
results.  It  becomes  increasingly  hard  to  believe  that 
that  in  the  world  which  mind  interprets  to  be  kin  to 
itself  should  have  another  origin.  On  any  other  view 
the  irrational  produces  the  rational. 

Evolution  thus  spiritually  conceived  enables  us    in 
large  measure  to  harmonise  the  natural  and  the  super- 

^  H.  F.  Osborn,  Science,  N.S.  vol.  xxix.  No.  753,  p.  896. 
141 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

natural,  between  which  there  is  substantial  unity  in 
spite  of  their  diversity.  It  relieves  us  from  all  em- 
barrassment of  a  time  element.  It  places  us  in  the 
midst  of  the  creative  movement  and  compels  us  to 
think  of  God  as  actively  determining  rather  than  as 
having  determined  events.  In  a  way  that  was  never 
possible  it  shows  us  what  it  is  to  be  fellow-workers 
with  God,  and  suggests  that  as  in  conversation  with 
our  friends  and  observation  of  their  activities  we 
come  to  know  their  mind  and  intents,  so  in  com- 
munion with  God,  and  in  investigation  and  reflection 
upon  His  processes,  we  may  so  learn  His  Will  for  us 
and  for  the  world  as  to  put  our  lives  efficiently  into  line 
with  the  eternal  purposes.  "  My  Father  worketh  hither- 
to " — that  eternal  work  receives  a  new  content ;  "  and 
I  work,"  and  so  must  we.  That  for  which  the  spirit  of 
man  has  longed — that  which  he  found  in  the  miracle — 
the  evidence  of  a  spiritual  process  in  the  world  ready 
to  exert  itself  in  behalf  of  a  divine  order — is  for  ever 
secured  in  the  evolutionary  conception  of  the  divine 
immanence.  It  is  almost  needless  to  remark  that  thus 
to  conceive  of  Evolution  involves  no  change  in  our 
ideas  of  the  love  and  power  of  God ;  these  ever  abide. 
All  that  we  have  attained  is  a  more  orderly  conception 
of  the  method  of  the  divine  working,  a  method  that 
explains  the  whole  process,  showing  Him  abundantly 
immanent  in  a  world  that  is  yet  in  Him.  God  be- 
comes known  to  us  in  certain  of  His  attributes  as  an 
ever  growing  revelation  :  He  is  on  record  no  longer  the 
fixed  formula  of  the  schoolmen,  in  experience  not  even 
the  perfected  presence  of  the  Pietists.^  For  truth  itself 
as  we  know  it  is  gradually  found  to  be  no  longer  the 
absolutely  immutable  thing  that  we  conceived  it  to  be. 
The  data  of  to-day  are  modified  and  subsumed  in  the 

^  Cf.  J.  Bascom,  op.  cit.  p.  183. 
142 


EVOLUTION 

more  comprehensive  data  of  the  morrow.  Incessantly 
the  mind  pushes  on,  and  the  truth  gained  at  any  point 
is  an  indication  of  the  direction  taken  by  the  Supreme 
Reason,  a  hint  of  a  foundation  line,  rather  than  any 
absolute  final  product. 

Evolution  thus  conceived  is  not  a  creed,  nor  a  new- 
religion,  nor  a  body  of  doctrine  to  be  believed  without 
being  understood.  Dr.  Woods  Hutchison  has  indeed 
entitled  a  book  The  Gospel  according  to  Darwin^  but  I 
am  unaware  of  any  saving  grace  in  Evolution,  unless 
that  it  saves  a  man  from  pessimism.  If  he  is  inclined 
to  despair  of  the  progress  of  the  race  let  him  but  turn 
and  see  the  road  by  which  it  has  come,  or  look 
unto  the  rock  whence  it  was  hewn  and  to  the  hole  of 
the  pit  whence  it  was  digged.  Evolution  does  not 
explain  the  origin  of  life,  although  it  helps  us  to  under- 
stand the  origin  of  the  different  kinds  of  life. 


143 


CHAPTER    VI 

NATURAL  SELECTION 

When  we  speak  of  the  proofs  of  Evolution,  we  do  not 
mean  anything  in  the  nature  of  an  Euclidean  demon- 
stration :  such  proof  does  not  exist.  Nor  is  there  in 
strict  speech  any  unequivocal  objective  demonstration 
of  the  doctrine  of  descent.  The  whole  argumentation 
is  strangely  subjective.  The  evolutionist  believes  in 
descent  not  so  much  on  irresistible  isolated  objective 
data,  as  on  logical  induction  from  curiously  scattered, 
always  incomplete,  lines  of  evidence.  Yet  in  every 
case  the  hypothesis  of  descent  covers  the  facts,  and 
nothing  is  known  that  is  in  vital  conflict  with  it. 

For  those  who  have  lived  all  their  days  in  an  age 
whose  Open  Sesame  has  been  "  Evolution,"  it  is  not 
easy  to  realise  the  tremendous  revolution  in  thought 
that  followed  the  publication  of  Darwin's  work  entitled 
On  the  Origin  of  Species  by  means  of  Natural  Selection 
and  the  Preservation  of  Favoured  Races  in  the  Struggle 
for  Life  (1859).  The  modern  difficulty  indeed  is  to 
understand  how  it  was  ever  possible  to  entertain  any 
other  ideas  about  the  origin  of  species  than  those  that 
obtain  to-day.  The  real  change,  however,  has  taken 
place  in  connection  with  our  ideas  of  what  a  species  is : 
here  rather  than  in  ideas  about  their  origin  lies  the 
chief  difference  between  pre-  and  post  -  Darwinian 
thought.      It  is  a  fair  question  whether  after  all  Darwin 

144 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

told  us  anything  that  is  absolute  about  the  origin  of 
species,  but  he  did  show  us  that  there  was  nothing  in 
creation  that  corresponded  to  the  older  naturalists'  idea 
of  a  species.  And  once  that  old  conception  was 
dissipated,  the  correlated  ideas  about  the  origin, 
relations,  and  fate  of  species  naturally  went  into  the 
melting-pot  as  well. 

The  pre-Darwinian  unit  of  classification  was  the 
species.  It  was  selected  because  the  fluid  character  of 
the  included  varieties  was  known,  while  the  relation- 
ship of  the  more  comprehensive  groups  (genera,  families, 
orders,  etc.)  was  distant  and  in  great  part  unknown  ; 
again,  species  seemed  to  correspond  to  the  various 
"  kinds "  after  which  it  was  believed  the  Creation 
Narrative  affirmed  the  Creator  to  have  fashioned  the 
world  of  life.  Further,  varieties  were  cross  fertile ;  with 
species  was  introduced  cross-sterility — the  divine  barrier 
set  for  the  preservation  of  organic  order.  Species  were 
accordingly  immutable,  and  speculation  concerning 
their  transmutability  was  as  vain  as  the  meditations  of 
an  obsolete  alchemy  upon  the  possible  transmutation 
of  metals.  Such  was  the  static  view  of  the  organic 
realm  which  dissolved  under  the  play  of  the  Darwinian 
searchlight  into  a  dynamic  representation  of  living  forms. 
Yet  many  proofs  of  organic  evolution  are  more  correctly 
regarded  as  disproofs  of  the  old  conception  of  a  species 

The  details  of  such  proofs  and  disproofs  may  be 
gathered  in  numbers  of  appropriate  text-books.  They 
arise  out  of  considerations  that  are  physiological  in 
character,  dealing  with  the  functioning  and  nature  of 
living  forms.  To  these  may  be  added  morphological 
data  dealing  with  the  structure  of  forms,  historical 
arguments  drawn  from  the  racial  and  individual  history, 
and  finally  geographical  indications,  based  on  the 
terrestrial  distribution  of  plants  and  animals.  In 
K  145 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

illustration  of  a  physiological  disproof  of  the  older  view, 
reference  may  be  made  to  the  modern  position  regard- 
ing the  cross-sterility  of  species  and  the  cross-fertility 
of  varieties.  It  consists  in  the  direct  and  successful 
challenge  of  the  older  view.  The  evolutionist  may 
admit  that  he  knows  as  yet  no  case  where  domestic 
varieties  are  sterile  when  crossed.  The  reason  is  that 
fertility  has  usually  been  definitely  selected  as  a 
characteristic  by  breeders,  and  it  is  most  probable  that 
if  they  deliberately  set  to  work  to  produce  infertility 
between  varieties  they  could  achieve  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  evolutionist  can  unhesitatingly  assert  that 
true  species,  natural  and  domesticated,  are  not  always 
sterile  when  crossed,  not  indeed  in  rare  examples,  but 
on  such  a  scale  as  to  suggest  that  the  old  criterion  of 
cross-sterility  is  practically  worthless.  It  has  in  short 
been  demonstrated,  not  indeed  that  all  species  are 
mutable,  but  that  they  are  not  all  immutable,  until  the 
realisation  has  grown  of  how  hardly  we  may  reach  a 
justifiable  conception  of  a  species.  The  modern  con- 
ception seems  vague  and  indefinite  compared  with  the 
clean-cut  pre-Darwinian  view ;  indeed,  a  leading  Neo- 
Darwinian  has  proposed  that  the  term  should  be 
dropped  altogether  as  corresponding  to  nothing  in  fact.^ 
A  species  is  simply  a  group  of  organic  forms  that  are 
more  like  one  another  than  they  are  like  anything  else, 
that  ordinarily  interbreed,  and  that  might  be  thought 
of  as  having  a  near  community  of  ancestry.  It  is, 
however,  the  individuals  that  are  real,  rather  than  the 
species  ;  the  latter  is  but  a  relative  conception  embracing 
a  number  of  forms  that  show  certain  well-marked 
characters  with  a  noticeable  though  not  absolute  con- 
sistency from  one  generation  to    another.      This  does 

^  Sir  E.  Ray  Lankester  ;  see  Prof.  E.  B.  Poulton,  Essays  on  Evolution^ 
p.  62. 

146 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

not  mean  that  there  are  no  differences  between  species 
and  varieties.  As  a  general  rule  the  former  show- 
much  greater  structural  differences  than  the  latter  and 
are  in  a  marked  degree  more  stable ;  none  the  less  it 
is  impossible  to  draw  any  hard  and  fast  line  between 
them.  Alike  amongst  living  and  fossil  forms  species 
are  usually  distinct  and  without  intermediate  links,  but 
on  the  other  hand  there  are  classes,  e.g.  Foraminifera 
and  Sponges,  where  the  conception  is  practically  value- 
less, so  minute  are  the  gradations  between  the  various 
groups.  Hence  we  have  come  to  think  of  a  species 
not  as  a  sharply  delineated  group  of  living  forms,  but 
as  an  "  abstract  central  point  around  which  a  group  of 
variations  oscillate " ;  ^  where  we  see  the  peripheral 
oscillations  of  one  species  overlapping  those  of  an 
allied  species  we  are  tempted  to  look  for  transmutation. 
Of  the  other  proofs,  that  one  which  deals  with  the 
individual  aspect  of  organic  history  offers  perhaps  the 
most  striking  contributions  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
problem.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  every  animal  briefly 
rehearses  scenes  out  of  the  story  of  its  ancestral  history 
on  the  stage  of  its  individual  history, — "  climbs  its  own 
genealogical  tree,"  as  Milnes  Marshall  picturesquely 
phrased  it.  If  it  be  the  case  that  throughout  organic 
history  the  progeny  of  any  individual  has  never  com- 
menced life  at  that  stage  where  the  parent  form  left  off, 
and  that  its  own  history  represents  either  a  slight  ad- 
vance on  the  parental  history  or  a  failure  to  attain  that 
stage,  then  the  Recapitulation  Theory  simply  must  be 
true  in  some  form.  More  strictly  it  implies  that 
individuals  of  the  higher  forms  of  life  pass  in  the  course 
of  their  embryonic  development  through  temporary 
stages  which    resemble   the    embryonic    conditions    of 

1  P.  Chalmers  Mitchell,  art.  "Evolution,"  Encyc.    Brit.,    nth  edit., 
vol.  X.  p.  35. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

some  of  the  lower  {i.e.  older)  forms  in  the  line  of 
descent.  The  proofs  are  very  striking,  and  even 
include  stages  that  are  comparable  with  the  adult  form 
of  certain  types  that  lie  in  the  line  of  evolution,  but  this 
is  naturally  true  only  of  the  earlier  stages.  The 
recapitulation  is  never  precise;  it  is  in  no  sense  a 
detailed  rehearsal.  Stages  are  often  skipped  and 
short  cuts  discovered ;  other  forms  show  obscuring 
characters  that  are  secondary  adaptations  to  modes 
of  life  of  which  their  ancestors  had  probably  no 
experience.  Nevertheless,  in  this  suggested  theory  of 
these  resemblances  we  have  an  historical  interpretation 
of  great  value  that  is  applicable  in  the  case  of  mental 
and  moral  characters  with  as  surprising  results  as  in 
the  case  of  those  that  are  purely  physical. 

The  Basis  of  Natural  Selection. 

Of  those  factors  whose  resultant  is  Evolution  it  is 
convenient  to  mention  in  the  first  place  Natural 
Selection,  the  distinctively  Darwinian  factor,  whose 
value  has  been  emphasised  by  Neo-Darwinians  in  a 
manner  that  quite  out-Darwins  Darwin.  The  idea  was 
suggested  both  to  Charles  Darwin  and  A.  R.  Wallace 
by  the  study  of  Malthus'  Essay  on  the  Principle  of 
Population  (1798)  in  which  as  the  result  of  inquiries 
into  what  actually  took  place  in  certain  districts  of 
America  that  amiable  clergyman  maintained  that 
while  the  population  increased  in  a  geometrical  ratio, 
the  increase  of  food  supply  was  only  on  an  arithmetical 
ratio,  a  condition  of  things  which  would  in  a  limited 
world  eventually  result  in  a  struggle  for  existence. 
Transferred  to  the  plant  and  animal  kingdoms, 
the  idea  developed  into  the  distinctive  Darwinian 
assertions :  i ,  (fact)  that  by  reproduction  the  number 
of  individuals  tends  to  increase  in  a  geometrical  pro- 

148 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

gression ;  and  as  the  food  and  place  for  these  are 
limited,  (inference)  there  necessarily  follows  a  struggle 
for  existence :  2,  (fact)  the  offspring  usually  exceed 
the  parents  in  number — in  the  majority  of  instances  to 
an  enormous  degree — and  yet  there  is  no  increase 
evident  in  the  total  sum  of  living  organisms  ;  (inference) 
accordingly,  on  the  average  as  many  plants  and 
animals  die  every  year  as  are  born  :  3,  (fact)  further, 
the  offspring  whether  of  one  or  two  parents  or  of  a 
generation  all  differ  from  one  another  in  varying 
degree  of  form  or  function,  and  (inference)  in  this 
struggle  for  existence  those  individuals  whose  variations 
are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  give  them  some  advantage 
over  their  neighbours  will  survive,  and,  leaving  offspring, 
transmit  to  the  next  generation  the  advantageous 
characters  that  had  survival  value.  This  continual 
transmission  of  fortunate  genetic  variations  results  at 
once  in  modification  of  species  and  in  that  marvellous 
internal  and  external  adaptation  that  constitutes  so 
much  of  the  wonder  of  Nature,  The  phrase  Natural 
Selection  as  descriptive  of  the  process  is,  however,  incom- 
plete and  to  that  extent  misleading.  It  is  incomplete 
in  so  far  as  it  expresses  only  one  half  of  the  truth. 
Natural  Selection  might  just  as  well  be  called  Natural 
Rejection :  Darwin's  phrase  emphasises  only  the 
positive  affirmative  aspect  of  the  process.  The  other 
aspect,  the  destruction  of  the  unfit,  is  possibly  the 
broader  and  in  that  degree  the  more  important.  It  is 
in  this  sense  that  the  word  selection  is  especially  mis- 
leading. Strictly,  as  H.  W.  Conn  insists,^  there  is  no 
selecting,  no  selector.  Nature  does  not  so  much  select 
the  best,  as  eliminate  the  worst. 

Of  the  enormous  increase  of  organisms  in  geometrical 
ratio,    many  interesting  statistics  have  been  collected. 

^  The  Method  of  Evohdion,  p.  70. 
149 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Taking  one  general  example  and  assenting  to  the 
reasonable  proposition  that  there  are  one  hundred 
trillion  flies  in  the  world  to-day,  we  would  find  that, 
could  they  all  be  destroyed  instantaneously,  yet  in 
three  months  one  pair  would  have  produced  as  many. 
Should  each  fly  have  the  most  favourable  environment, 
no  one  could  escape  the  plague  of  flies ;  no  miracle 
would  be  so  simple,  only  it  would  not  be  miraculous. 
Yet  we  do  not  notice  any  marked  increase  in  flies  or 
any  of  the  myriad  forms  of  life,  about  which  the  same 
statements  could  be  proportionately  hazarded.  Intra- 
specifically  as  in  the  case  of  the  members  of  an  ant 
community,  inter  -  specifically  as  in  the  feudatory 
relations  of  carnivore  and  herbivore,  as  also  with  the 
various  forces  of  inorganic  Nature,  each  individual  wages 
a  threefold  warfare,  not  necessarily  continuous,^  yet  of 
sufficient  severity,  particularly  in  the  early  stages  of  the 
individual  life,^  to  maintain  the  species  at  an  average 
strength.  Under  this  pressure  any  slight  modification 
in  structure  or  function  that  gives  an  advantage  to  an 
individual  may  ensure  its  survival ;  on  the  other  hand, 
in  many  cases  no  degree  of  modification  whatever  will 
avail  for  the  survival  of  the  harassed  species.  There  is 
no  absolute  rigidity  of  action  under  Natural  Selection, 
yet  on  the  whole  as  the  result  of  the  struggle  for 
existence  it  is  the  fitter  organisms  that  win,  in  the 
biological  implication  of  surviving  to  leave  offspring. 
That  the  powers  of  reproduction  seem  to  exceed  the 
need  of  the  species  is  simply  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
this    very    prodigality    of    life    alone    that    has    made 

^  It  is  also  further  lessened  by  the  divergence  of  species  into  unoccupied 
localities,  where  the  pressure  is  consequently  not  so  severe. 

^  With  certain  modifications,  these  statements  hold  also  for  the  human 
species.  About  48  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  England  die  before  the 
age  of  25, 

150 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

evolution  possible.  It  ensures  that  competition  without 
which  there  could  be  no  differentiation  and  so  no 
advance.  Forms  that  did  not  develop  this  power  of 
excessive  reproduction  must  speedily  have  been  out- 
distanced by  forms  advancing  by  selection,  and  were 
eventually  exterminated.  Of  the  sole  sufficiency  of 
Natural  Selection  in  the  mechanisation  of  Evolution  a 
large  and  important  school  is  fully  convinced.  Yet  it 
can  act  only  on  prepared  material,  so  to  speak,  and 
after  a  certain  point :  it  is  entirely  dependent  on  a 
supply  of  variations  with  whose  origin  it  has  nothing 
to  do  except  in  so  far  as  it  may  be  said  to  determine 
which  individuals — the  media  of  variations — shall  give 
rise  to  other  individuals.  More  particularly  its 
insufficiency  has  been  urged  in  such  connections  as 
accounting  for  the  formation  of  paired  organs  and 
incipient  new  organs,  or  indifferent  and  seemingly 
useless  specific  characters  of  form,^  size,  and  colour,  as 
also  in  explanation  of  complete  degeneration,  or  the 
appearance  at  the  right  time  of  those  many  variations 
that  comprise  specifications  of  qualitative  and  co- 
adaptive  character.  There  is  no  question  that  the 
fact  of  mutation  and  the  principle  of  correlation  help 
considerably  in  lightening  the  burden  that  Natural 
Selection  is  made  to  carry.  On  the  other  hand  nothing 
is  more  remarkable  than  the  way  in  which  Darwin, 
while  holding  as  long  as  possible  to  Natural  Selection, 
yet  finally  turned  to  the  Lamarckian  factors  ^  to  help 
him  round  a  difficult  corner,^  or  the  candour  with  which 
he  admitted  that  serious  difficulties  stood  in  the  way 
of  Natural  Selection.  Thus  his  theory  of  Pangenesis 
was  a  distinct  attempt  to  formulate  a  possible  basis  for 

^  Cf.  Arthur  Dendy,  Outlmes  of  Evolutionary  Biology,  p.  421. 

2  The  principle  of  use  and  disuse,  and  the  direct  action  of  the  environment. 

8  Origin  of  Species  (new  impression),  pp.  656,  657, 

151 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

the  inherited  effects  of  use  and  disuse.      He  saw  clearly 
that  degeneration  or  complete  reduction  in  an  organ  or 
parts  could  not    be  explained    by  Natural    Selection. 
Weismann   sees  this   also,  but   provides  an  epicycle  in 
his  theory  of  Panmixia,  which  simply  means  that  when 
an  organ  or  quality  is  developed  by  Natural  Selection, 
then  that  agency  is  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
specific  condition.      If  Natural  Selection  ceases  to  act, 
in  the  resulting  promiscuous  breeding  the  quality  is  no 
longer  selected  and  gradually  drops  out  of  sight  amidst 
the  countless  other  competing  variations.      Weismann 
himself  has,  however,   admitted   the    practical    impos- 
sibility of  explaining  complete  effacement  in  this  way, 
and  enunciated  a  further  theory  of  Germinal  Selection, 
■ — which  is  also  a  confession  of  the  failure  of  Natural 
Selection    to     offer     any    account    of    the    coincident 
appearances  of  necessary  variations  in  many  forms.      It 
is  an  attempted  explanation  of  control,  as  it  were,  of  the 
origin  of  fit  variations.      But  even  here  it  is  not  difficult 
to    multiply    objections,  and,  in    any    case,    Germinal 
Selection  is  pure  hypothesis.      In  fact,  Darwinism  is  as 
Ptolemaicism  and  needs  the  introduction  of  subsidiary 
cycles  and  epicycles  to  make  the  explanation  cover  all 
the  facts.     Which  simply  means  that  it  is  incomplete, 
if  not  positively  faulty :  the  Copernicus  of  Biology  has 
not  yet  arisen. 

Ethical  Aspects  of  the  Struggle  for  Existence. 

In  many  minds  there  is  associated  with  the  term 
"  struggle  for  existence  "  a  grim,  relentless,  cruel  combat 
waged  by  man  and  beast  alike  although  in  different 
ways,  from  which  death  alone  grants  a  merciful  release. 
So  far  as  the  term  is  applied  to  human  campaigns 
against  zymotic  disease,  alcoholism,  or  even  to  war 
itself,   it  is  a  legitimate   application    of  the  biological 

152 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

idea.  On  the  other  hand,  to  use  the  term  in  connection 
with  the  modern  struggle  towards  a  higher  plane  of 
existence,  material  or  social,  is,  as  Conn  points  out,^ 
simply  a  misapplication.  For  the  idea  which  lies  at 
the  basis  of  Natural  Selection  as  a  factor  in  Evolution 
is  that  of  a  struggle  in  which  the  unsuccessful  are 
actually  eliminated  and  so  fail  to  reproduce  their  kind. 
Now,  amongst  civilised  races,  except  under  rare  con- 
ditions, the  struggle  for  food  is  seldom  such  as  to 
affect  his  reproductive  efficiency ;  still  less  does  it 
involve  elimination.  Indeed,  it  is  rather  a  matter  of 
regret  to  modern  masters  of  eugenics  that  our  humblest 
classes,  presumably  those  most  near  starvation-point, 
are  so  prolific.  The  struggle  in  the  case  of  man  is 
severe  enough  without  having  the  conditions  obscured 
by  secondary  and  comparatively  unimportant  applica- 
tions ;  yet  that  conflict  is  waged  with  hopefulness  as 
man  by  his  intelligence  progressively  turns  the  edge  of 
Natural  Selection. 

In  the  case  of  the  lower  creation  the  impression  is 
not  so  immediately  hopeful.  Poet  and  man  of  science 
alike  have  indicted  Nature,  and  the  charge  of  cruelty 
and  unmorality  seems  to  cut  deep. 

"The  Mayfly  is  torn  by  the  swallow,  the  sparrow  spear'd  by  the  shrike, 
And  the  whole  Httle  wood  where    I  sit    is   a   world    of   plunder    and 
prey."  ^ 

Huxley  also  permitted  himself  to  write  of  "  the 
myriads  of  generations  of  herbivorous  animals  "  which 
have  lived  "  during  the  millions  of  years  of  the  earth's 
duration  .  .  .  and  have  all  that  time  been  tormented 
and  devoured  by  carnivores " ;  of  carnivores  and 
herbivores  alike  "  subject  to  all  the  miseries  incidental 
to  old   age,   disease,  and  over-multiplication " ;  and   of 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  57  ^/  seq.  2  Lord  Tennyson's  Maud,  Part  I. 

153 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

"  the  more  or  less  enduring  suffering  which  is  the  meed 
of  both  vanquished  and  victor."  And  he  concluded 
that,  since  thousands  of  times  a  minute,  were  our  ears 
sharp  enough,  we  should  hear  sighs  and  groans  of  pain 
like  those  that  Dante  heard  by  the  gate  of  Hell,  the 
world  cannot  be  administered  by  what  we  understand 
as  benevolence.^ 

The  difficulty  in  reaching  a  correct  estimate  of  the 
conditions  of  Nature  is  increased  by  the  rise  of  a 
recent  literature  ^  which  would  have  us  believe  that 
many  wild  animals  lead  lives  on  planes  of  intelligence 
and  happiness  scarcely  attained  by  humanity.  The 
truth  as  usual  is  probably  somewhere  between,  and 
larger  than  the  pessimist's  or  optimist's  purview ;  the 
one  is  as  dangerous  an  individual  as  the  other.  To 
pronounce  satisfactorily  upon  the  ethical  aspect  of  the 
struggle  for  existence  it  would  be  necessary  to  know 
all  the  facts,  or  at  least  to  try  and  do  so,  as  also  to 
guard  against  anthropomorphism  when  studying  the 
face  of  Nature.  Into  any  such  judgment  four  distinct, 
unrelated,  and  in  some  degree  paradoxical,  considera- 
tions would  need  to  enter. 

I.  The  comparative  study  of  the  nervous  system 
in  the  animal  kingdom  seems  to  show  a  varying 
capacity  for  pain  which  in  the  highest  animals  even  is 
very  different  from  the  capacity  in  savage  man :  and 
as  we  descend  the  animal  scale,  the  capacity  lessens. 
What  is  pain  in  terms  of  physiology  ?  It  is  the 
peculiar  sensation  experienced  by  the  brain  as  a  result 
of  injury  to  or  affections  of  the  sensory  portion  of  the 
nervous  system.  Hence,  if  the  sensation  of  pain  is 
ultimately  referable  to  the  brain,    it  seems  a  fair  infer- 

^  Evohition  and  Ethics  and  other  Essays,  pp.  198,  200. 
^  e.g.    Ernest  Seton  Thompson's   Wild  Animals  I  have  k7iown  ;  Jack 
London's  The  Call  0/ the  Wild. 

154 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

ence  that  the  intensity  of  the  sensation — the  capacity  for 
it — will  be  dependent  on  the  degree  of  organisation  of 
that  organ  and  of  the  nervous  system  associated  with  it. 
It  is  not  proposed  to  make  any  detailed  comparative 
examination  of  the  nervous  system,  but  rather  to 
state  a  few  facts  which  will  serve  to  indicate  the 
strength  as  also  the  limitations  of  this  particular 
consideration.  If  we  commence  with  the  Protozoa, 
we  find  in  their  case  a  diffuse  sensitiveness  to  external 
influences,  but  in  the  total  absence  of  anything  corre- 
sponding to  a  nervous  system  we  cannot  suppose  for  a 
moment  that  they  feel  pain.  So  far  as  any  accurate 
account  is  given,  the  nervous  system  of  the  great 
group  of  Coelenterata,  apart  from  certain  sense  organs, 
is  entirely  motor  ;  the  effects  produced  are  on  a  par 
with  those  resulting  from  the  flicking  of  a  mimosa  leaf 
There  are  no  sensory  nerves  to  conduct  the  sensation 
of  pain,  no  brain  to  become  aware  of  it.  In  fact, 
detailed  investigation  of  the  invertebrate  kingdom  would 
show  that  pain  as  human  beings  are  sensible  of  it 
must  be  absolutely  unknown  there.  Says  one  com- 
petent observer,  "  When  a  crab  will  calmly  continue  its 
meal  upon  a  smaller  crab,  while  being  itself  leisurely 
devoured  by  a  larger  and  stronger ;  when  a  lobster 
will  voluntarily  and  spontaneously  divest  itself  of  its 
great  claws  if  a  heavy  gun  be  fired  over  the  water  in 
which  it  is  lying ;  when  a  dragon-fly  will  devour  fly 
after  fly,  immediately  after  its  abdomen  has  been  torn 
from  the  rest  of  its  body,  and  a  wasp  sip  syrup  with 
evident  zest  while  labouring — I  will  not  say  suffering — 
under  a  similar  mutilation  :  it  is  quite  clear  that  pain, 
at  any  rate  among  the  crustaceans  and  the  insects, 
must  practically  be  almost  or  altogether  unknown."  ^ 

1  Rev.  Theodore  Wood,  F.E.S.,  art.  "  The  Apparent  Cruelty  of  Nature," 
Jottrnal  of  Transactions  of  the  Victoria  Institute,  vol.  xxv.  p.  257. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

When  we  reach  Vertebrates  we  at  once  begin  to  get 
into  difficulties,  interpreting  e.g.  the  wriggling  of  the 
landed  trout  as  writhing,  and  tending  to  forget  the 
accumulated  evidence  that  serves  to  indicate  that  even 
severe  laceration  in  the  region  of  the  mouth  causes 
fish  little  inconvenience.  Amongst  reptiles,  especially 
lizards,  the  instinct  of  self-mutilation  in  the  caudal 
region  is  not  uncommon,  betokening  a  low  grade  of 
nervous  development,  and  birds  with  their  horny  beaks, 
their  scaly  legs  and  feathered  bodies  are  at  any  rate 
not  so  exposed  to  the  possibility  of  pain  through 
contact  as  creatures  more  and  less  highly  organised 
than  they  are.  To  this  there  probably  corresponds  a 
low  pain-susceptibility. 

When  we  reach  the  great  class  of  the  Mammals,  the 
question  presents  itself  to  us  in  another  form,  and  we 
find  ourselves  looking  for  some  standard  by  which 
we  can  compare  their  sensitivity  and  ours.  What  we 
want  to  know  is  whether  we  are  justified  in  imagining 
in  the  case  of  a  creature  showing  what  seems  to  us 
undoubted  signs  of  suffering  that  the  pain  it  endures 
is  comparable  to  that  which  human  beings  would  feel 
under  similar  circumstances.  If  we  confine  ourselves 
for  the  moment  to  the  human  species  we  find  con- 
siderations that  largely  answer  the  whole  question  for 
us.  For  we  have  only  to  think  a  moment  to  realise 
that  the  pain  consequent  on  the  same  injury  to  two 
men  is  by  no  means  equal  in  intensity.  This  is 
strictly  true  of  physical  injury,  but  it  also  holds  of 
moral  suffering,  and  if  this  fact  were  realised  our  whole 
penal  system  would  be  altered.  In  the  human  subject 
the  capacity  for  appreciating  pain  is  to  a  marked 
extent  a  matter  of  temperament  as  also  of  civilisation. 
Everyone  has  gathered  from  his  general  reading  that 
pain  to  the  savage  and  pain  to  the  civilised   man   are 

156 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

two  quite  different  things.  One  may,  e.g.^  refer  to  the 
rites  by  which  the  young  "  braves  "  of  various  Indian 
tribes  were  initiated  into  the  full  privileges  of  manhood, 
or  to  the  story  of  Livingstone's  bearer  with  the  broken 
thigh.  As  the  result  of  large  experience  in  operative 
work.  Dr.  Felkin  calculated  that  the  relative  suscepti- 
bility to  pain  in  the  European,  the  Arab,  and  Negro 
is  in  the  proportion  of  three,  two,  and  one.  He  also 
noticed  that  in  the  case  of  the  negroes  the  result  of 
education  was  to  increase  their  susceptibility  to  pain 
by  one-third.^  We  can  see  this  same  thing  ourselves 
any  day.  We  know  that  an  injury  that  would 
prostrate  a  brain-worker  would  be  received  with 
comparative  indifference  by  a  hand-labourer.  Educa- 
tion is  higher-grade  civilisation.  It  results  in  brain 
development,  and  this  reacts  upon  the  whole  nervous 
system,  inducing  a  far  greater  susceptibility  to  pain 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case.  As  a 
general  rule,  highly  educated  men  and  women  are  the 
most  susceptible  to  bodily  suffering.  By  study  and 
culture  of  the  mind  they  gain  a  great  accession  of 
intellectual  power;  but  with  this  is  developed  pari 
passu  increased  sensitiveness  of  nervous  organisation. 
It  is  the  price  paid  for  a  brain.  That  is  to  say, 
susceptibility  to  pain  reaches  a  maximum  in  the  case 
of  those  who  have  the  greatest  capacity  of  mental 
power :  the  power  to  do  and  to  enjoy  varies  directly 
as  the  power  to  suffer.  They  are  all  indices  of  high 
development. 

In  relation  to  the  alleged  cruelty  of  the  struggle 
many  additional  data  have  been  collected  tending 
to  show  that  insensibility  to  pain  attends  the  most 
characteristic  methods  of  feral  warfare  and  execution. 
Soldiers  in  battle  have  often  been  unaware  of  serious 

^  Quoted  by  Rev.  Theodore  Wood,  op.  cit.  p.  263. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

wounds  until  weakened  by  loss  of  blood,  and  the 
temporarily  benumbing  quality  of  the  feline  blow  has 
been  attested  again  and  again.  The  wild  beast  looks 
not  before  or  after  in  contemplation  of  impending 
doom :  its  life  is  entirely  in  the  present.  There  is 
nothing  save  sympathetic  misinterpretation  to  suggest 
that  animals  live  lives  of  continual  alarm  and  maddened 
endeavour  to  escape  the  death  that  is  never  far  from 
them  and  inevitable  at  last.  It  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  any  species  could  have  thriven  in  its  surroundings 
— could  have  survived  as  fittest  and  left  offspring — if 
such  had  been  the  actual  conscious  conditions  of  their 
life.  Would  life  be  worth  living — could  it  be  lived, 
if  e.g.  sparrows  were  in  constant  fear  of  the  sparrow- 
hawk  ?  We  see  their  seemingly  terrified  attitude  on 
the  approach  of  the  racial  enemy,  but  no  more  is 
involved  in  their  instinctive  response  to  the  signs  of 
danger  than  in  the  shutting  of  our  eyelids  to  protect 
the  eye.  The  sparrow  does  not  think :  a  danger  past 
is  an  incident  done  with.  Amongst  the  elements  that 
have  gone  to  compose  survival-fitness  there  has  been 
included  an  automatic  response  to  specific  signs  of 
danger;  as  also  an  increasing  capacity  for  suffering, 
which  therefore  on  the  Darwinian  hypothesis  if  not 
good,  must  be  at  any  rate  useful.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see 
how  the  pain  or  misery  that  is  presumably  the  meed 
of  the  unfit  or  disappearing  race  can  actually  affect 
the  individual  comfort.  We  have  never  been  asked 
to  suppose  that  the  lives  of  individuals  in  a  disappear- 
ing race,  e.g.  Red  Indians,  are  on  that  account  less 
pleasurable  than  the  lives  of  individuals  in  an  increasing 
race.  What  we  observe  is  an  excess  of  deaths  over 
births  in  the  long  run,  owing  to  particular  circum- 
stances, not  necessarily  pain-inflicting, — an  unconscious 
process  of  extinction. 

158 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

In  an  extremely  interesting  study  ^  E.  K.  Robinson 
has  attempted  to  get  at  the  root  of  our  misinter- 
pretation of  animal  life,  and  raises  the  question 
whether  there  is  not  a  difference  between  mental 
consciousness  and  bodily  sensation.  He  quotes  with 
effect  certain  lines  from  "  That  Day,"  in  which  Rudyard 
Kipling  describes  one  of  those  sudden  panics  into 
which  even  the  British  soldier  may  fall : 

"Till  I  'eard  a  beggar  squealin'  out  for  quarter  as  'e  ran, 
An'  I  thought  I  knew  the  voice  an' — it  was  me  ! " 

Here  is  graphically  pictured  the  momentary  dis- 
location, as  it  were,  of  the  purely  animal  unconscious 
instinct  and  the  governing  and  controlling  conscious- 
ness in  the  fugitive  soldier,  and  the  suggestion  offered 
is  that  all  the  experiences  of  the  lower  creation  are  of 
the  former  type.  If  the  soldier  had  been  speared 
through  the  heart  before  he  realised  that  it  was  his 
own  voice  which  he  heard,  he  would  have  died  without 
consciousness  of  the  anguish  of  fear.  "  I  didn't  know 
what  I  was  doing,"  we  sometimes  say  of  moments  of 
crisis  when  we  act  instinctively.  So  do  the  lower 
animals  live  and  die  a  mesmerised  kind  of  a  Ufe,  all 
unconscious  of  bodily  agony  that  they  may  be  suffer- 
ing. That  is  to  say,  although  to  all  appearance 
animals  may  be  suffering  pain,  yet  it  does  not 
necessarily  follow  that  they  do  so  consciously.  Or  in 
Robinson's  most  extreme  statement  ^ — "  We  all  think 
in  words :  and  there  are  no  ready-made  words  in 
which  we  can  think  of  animals  feeling  pain  without 
being  conscious  of  it."  The  animal  continually  acts, 
as  we  sometimes  do,  "  on  the  spur  of  the  moment," 
but  does  not  appear  to  reflect  subsequently  upon  such 

^  The  Religion  of  Nature.  ^  Op.  cit.  p.  i6. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

action.  The  sheep  in  the  park  rushes  in  evident 
headlong  terror  from  the  dog,  but  when  the  latter 
is  called  off,  immediately  it  puts  down  its  head  and 
quietly  resumes  feeding.  The  animal  "  acts  before  it 
thinks,"  only  it  does  not  think.  Man  usually  thinks 
before  he  acts,  yet  occasionally  he  instinctively  reverses 
the  order.  He  chooses  his  line  of  conduct.  Nature 
has  chosen  it  for  the  lower  creation  by  the  elimination 
of  all  courses  save  the  right  one.  Accordingly  we 
imagine  that  the  animals  have  chosen  because  they 
do  what  often  seems  to  us  right,  and  most  often  very 
wonderful.  What  we  really  see  perhaps  is  evidence 
of  something  kin  to  our  own  minds  in  the  external 
direction  of  their  lives. 

II.  Examination  of  the  conditions  of  organic 
progress  shows  that  it  has  always  been  the  outcome  of 
a  certain  saving  discontent.  Progress  follows  acute 
organic  dissatisfaction.  It  is  the  result  of  constant 
experimentation  in  the  individual  life.  Nothing  in 
this  world  of  things  organic  or  inorganic  is  perfect, 
although  much  is  becoming  perfect.  The  adaptation 
to  environment  is  never  perfect  in  any  case.  Perfect 
physical  conformity,  complete  adaptation  would  mean 
eventual  death.  As  the  conditions  change  it  is 
necessary  that  there  be  change  in  the  adaptation, — 
that  way  alone  survival  lies, — but  perfect  adaptation 
would  involve  complete  surrender  to  a  definite 
environmental  phase,  and  such  extreme  specialisation 
carries  with  it  exhaustion  of  adaptability.  Probably 
the  nearest  approach  to  perfect  adaptation  is  to  be 
found  in  the  case  of  some  parasites ;  but  that  means 
eventually  degeneration,  stagnation,  death.  If  we 
consider  any  period  of  organic  history  we  shall  find 
that  its  dominant  forms,  so  far  as  freedom  from  danger 
and    discomfort  is   concerned,   were    forms    ultimately 

1 60 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

doomed  to  degeneration  or  stagnation.^  Every  pro- 
gressive race  has  had  to  choose  between  the  present 
and  the  future,  and  in  so  far  as  it  elected  the  present 
it  surrendered  the  future.  The  type  that  will  hold 
the  future  has  not  completely  conformed  to  the 
present :  it  has  exercised  a  certain  non-committal 
aloofness  to  the  present.  To  a  definite  extent  con- 
formity is  necessary,  indeed  is  a  condition  of  survival, 
but  it  is  not  in  itself  a  guarantee  of  progress.  Consider 
the  days  of  molluscan  glory  and  the  almost  perfect 
adaptation  of  the  oyster.  Protected  within  its  shell 
which  hindered  locomotion  and  reduced  nervous  inter- 
course to  a  minimum,  living  in  the  midst  of  plenty  and 
like  a  true  worldling  occasionally  doing  a  pretty  thing 
as  it  healed  its  hurt  with  a  pearl,  its  life  was  for  the 
present — a  rich  and  easy  life,  reproducing  its  kind  in 
legions.  And  in  the  same  waters  were  aspiring 
struggling  forms,  ancestral  to  true  vertebrates,  feeble 
in  size  compared  with  Orthoceras,  scantily  protected 
as  measured  by  Crustacean  armament,  and  yet  the 
day  was  to  be  theirs.  Or  if  seated  on  some  point  of 
vantage  in  Jurassic  days  an  observer  had  been  asked  to 
choose  from  out  its  rich  and  varied  fauna  the  form  that 
would  survive,  would  he  have  passed  over  the  various 
groups  of  powerful  saurians  and  given  the  verdict  to 
the  little  marsupial  mammal  diligently  striving  to  avoid 
becoming  a  saurian  meal?  Its  very  inability  to  con- 
tend in  brute  strength  may  have  driven  it  into  brain- 
building.  At  every  stage  the  same  story  may  be 
read.  It  is  not  a  parable :  it  is  a  transcript  of  all 
phylogeny.  A  long  range  view  of  organic  history 
shows  that  ultimately  the  race  has  never  gone  to  the 
swift  nor  the  battle  to  the   strong.     There  is  no  form 

^  This  point  and  subsequent  illustrations  have  been  directly  suggested  by 
J.  M.  Tyler's  The  Whence  and  the  Whither  of  Man  (1899),  p.  194  et  seq. 
L  161 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

that  has  not  been  in  that  narrow  upward  way  towards 
a  higher  type  of  life  that  rises  to  the  very  end,  but 
they  have  almost  all  gone  out  of  it.  "  Say  not  the 
struggle  nought  availeth  :  "  from  the  evolutionary  point 
of  view  it  availeth  everything. 

III.  No  account  of  the  struggle  for  existence  can 
pretend  to  be  complete  which  fails  to  take  notice  of  the 
mutual  service  or  self-sacrifice  that  enter  into  it  so 
objectively.  The  recognition  of  the  existence  of  such 
a  factor  as  altruism  must  inevitably  modify  our  concep- 
tion of  the  character  of  the  evolutionary  process  very 
profoundly.  Geddes  and  Thomson  had  pointed  out 
the  reasonableness  of  recognising  in  animal  life  "  the 
co-existence  of  twin  streams  of  egoism  and  altruism, 
which  often  merge  for  a  space  without  losing  their 
distinctness,  and  are  traceable  to  a  common  origin  in 
the  simplest  forms  of  life : "  ^  and  Herbert  Spencer 
had  previously  stated  "  that  without  gratis  benefits  to 
offspring,  and  earned  benefits  to  adults,  life  could  not 
have  continued.  .  .  .  By  virtue  of  them  (altruistic 
principles)  life  has  gradually  evolved  into  higher 
forms."  ^  Prince  Kropotkin  also,  in  articles  on  "  Mutual 
Aid  among  Animals,"  had  drawn  attention  to  the  factor.^ 
But  it  was  Henry  Drummond  *  who  first  gave  a  really 
detailed  account  of  it,  showing  the  gradual  domination 
of  the  self- regarding  activities  based  on  the  function  of 
nutrition  by  the  other-regarding  activity  grounded  in 
the  function  of  reproduction.  "  Sympathy,  tenderness, 
unselfishness  and  the  long  list  of  virtues  which  make 
up  Altruism  are  the  direct  outcome  and  essential 
accompaniment  of  the  reproductive  process.   .  .   .  For 

^  Evolution  of  Sex,  p.  279. 
^  Principles  of  Ethics,  vol.  ii.  p.  5- 
*  Nineteenth  Cetitury,  Sept.  and  Nov.  1890. 
"*  Ascent  of  I\Ian,  chap.  vii. 
162 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

a  time  in  the  life-history  of  every  higher  animal  the 
direct,  personal,  gratuitous,  unrewarded  help  of  another 
creature  is  a  condition  of  existence."  ^ 

Accordingly  it  is  not  suggested,  nor  did  Drummond 
pretend,  that  he  first  called  attention  to  the  existence 
of  this  factor.  He  was  not  the  discoverer  of  this 
"  stream  of  altruism,"  but  he  first  made  a  systematic 
exploration  of  it.  If,  in  tracking  the  stream  to  its 
source,  he  sometimes  fancied  he  found  it  trickling 
where  it  did  not  actually  exist,  or  marked  its  course 
as  open  where  in  reality  it  was  still  flowing  under- 
ground, we  may  pardon  the  errors  of  an  enthusiastic 
explorer.  But  he  did  more,  for  he  followed  the  stream 
in  the  opposite  direction,  and  maintained  not  only  that 
at  a  certain  point  it  united  with  the  other,  but  that  the 
turbid  waters  of  the  stream  of  egoism  were  being  lost 
in  the  clear  flowing  tide  of  altruism.  In  the  chapter 
referred  to  he  traces  a  certain  altruism  throughout  the 
brute  creation,  and  tries  to  show  that  the  evolution  of 
animal  life,  while  not  in  itself  necessarily  moral,  might 
still  have  been  preparing  the  way  for  morality  in 
man. 

This  altruism  expresses  itself  in  various  ways. 
Indirectly  the  principle  is  operative  in  countless 
favourable  interrelations  between  animal  and  animal 
or  animal  and  plant  that  have  as  result  an  increase  in 
the  sum  of  life,  as  also  in  those  different  aspects  of 
gregariousness  that  represent  more  effective  ways  of 
carrying  on  the  struggle.  More  directly  it  is  mani- 
fested in  that  care  of  the  young  and  willingness  to 
surrender  life  for  them  that  have  proved  far  more 
effective  elements  in  racial  progress  than  the  sharpest 
tooth  or  keenest  eye.  Altruism  has  paid  its  way  from 
the  beginning,  bounty-fed   by  the  more  abundant  life 

1  op.  cit.  p.  1 86. 

163 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATIOxN  OF  NATURE 

that  has  followed  in  its  wake,  expansive  in  virtue  of 
the  very  limitations  it  imposes.  Pure  selfishness 
isolating  and  improvident,  may  by  reason  of  its  com- 
plete conformity  to  the  present,  acquire  a  temporary 
dominance,  but  it  has  no  hold  upon  the  future,  and  is 
its  own  destruction.  Co-operation,  then,  in  its  various 
phases,  in  fact  all  the  various  relations  and  favourable 
interactions  that  organisms  adopt  whereby  life  more 
abundantly  is  produced  and  as  a  result  higher  life  is 
evolved,  have  definitely  to  be  recognised  in  any 
account  of  life,  as  without  them  it  would  have  ceased. 
Self-sacrifice,  conscious  or  unconscious,  is  a  condition 
of  continued  life ;  all  the  specific  adjustments  of 
creatures  are  ultimately  there  for  generations  unborn. 

Now,  while  reflection  on  this  altruistic  factor  suggests 
certain  correspondences  with  moral  teaching  and  prac- 
tice, it  is  not  just  so  easy  to  see  the  higher  justification 
of  the  self-regarding  activities.  If  altruism  be  held  to 
be  the  sum  and  substance  of  morality,  this  difficulty 
must  always  remain.  On  the  other  hand,  may  it  not 
be  urged  that  altruism  does  not  exhaust  morality — 
that  self-preservation,  self-assertion,  self-perfection  are 
just  as  important  and  as  necessary  to  ethics  as  self- 
surrender,  self-abnegation,  self-sacrifice  ?  In  that  event 
it  is  possible  to  find  the  counterpart  of  the  natural 
self-regarding  struggle  in  the  higher  sphere  of  the 
spirit.  For  self-love  in  its  noblest  sense  is  just  as 
much  a  duty  as  to  show  love  to  our  neighbours.  Life, 
after  all,  resolves  itself  for  us  into  the  play — the  action 
and  interaction — between  the  organism  and  its  environ- 
ment, human  or  physical.  Unless  a  man  sees  to  his 
personal  development,  he  will  have  nothing  to  give  to 
others.  Life  is  a  perpetual  giving  and  receiving :  he 
who  has  nothing  to  give  is  dead ;  he  lives  most  who 
gives  the  most  and  the  best.      And  as  a  man  dare  not 

164 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

rightly  give  to  others  that  which  involves  moral  loss  or 
harm  to  himself,  so  for  the  very  sake  of  others  he  is 
bound  to  make  the  most  of  himself.  The  altruistic 
motto  is,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour."  The 
individualistic  motto  is,  "Thou  shalt  love  thyself." 
The  incomparable  Christian  motto  is  a  choice  blend 
of  these  two  words,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."  Here  we  have  law  not  merely  rational  but 
Divine. 

That  this  altruistic  factor  is  bound  to  exert  an  in- 
creasing influence  would  seem  to  be  clear  if  only  from 
the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the  present  stage  of 
human  evolution.  The  causes  for  this  condition  lie  in 
the  exaggerated  social  inequalities,  the  extremely  un- 
equal distribution  of  property,  the  excessive  individual- 
ism. The  integration  of  the  human  race  will  only  be 
brought  about  as  it  has  been  brought  about  in  humbler 
societies  or  colonies  by  co-operation,  by  a  determination 
not  merely  to  live  and  let  live  but  to  live  and  help  live, 
by  a  public  opinion  which  will  control  competition  till 
its  rivalry  is  never  other  than  that  healthy  striving 
without  which  progress  cannot  be.  In  these  direc- 
tions human  evolution  is  increasingly  tending,  as  the 
result  of  the  inspiration  and  leading  of  those  who 
have  been  most  sensitive  to  the  spiritual  aspects  of 
the  environment. 

IV.  When  we  have  estimated  the  real  worth  of  the 
charges  of  cruelty  against  Nature,  have  realised  the 
price  of  progress,  and  considered  the  place  of  altruism, 
we  may  return  to  ponder  the  fundamental  place  of 
suffering  and  of  service  in  the  world.  For  they  have 
been  there  from  the  beginning,  curiously  connected,  no 
mere  capricious  incident,  but  part  of  the  very  pattern 
of  the  web  of  life.  In  a  very  real  sense  the  successful 
species  that  occupy  the  great  geological  horizons  have 

165    ' 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

come  out  of  great  tribulation,  "  redeemed  at  a  great 
price,  even  of  a  thousand  species  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  individuals,  who  fell  short  of  the  typical  fitness  and 
were  killed  out."  ^  Every  successful  species  was  but  a 
pioneer  of  progress,  and  sooner  or  later,  "  like  the  scouts 
of  a  great  army,  was  caught  in  some  physiological 
ambush  "  to  its  own  undoing.  And  as  Creation  is  an 
organic  whole,  every  part  is  in  the  service  of  some 
other.  The  plant  world  is  in  the  employ  of  the 
herbivorous  section  of  the  animal  world ;  it  does  it 
service.  But  in  the  course  of  time  appear  the 
carnivorous  groups,  the  herbivorous  forms  come  into 
their  employ,  the  altar  of  sacrifice  is  raised,  and  since 
that  day  its  stones  have  never  been  cast  down.  Suffer- 
ing and  service  are  wrought  into  the  process.  Our 
more  abundant  human  life  is  the  outcome  of  the 
travail  of  creation's  lower  forms.  Whatever  we  have 
in  national  or  social  or  individual  life  that  is  at  all  worth 
having  has  been  purchased  with  the  price  of  blood.  It 
is  almost  unnecessary  to  remark  that  the  recognition 
of  this  suffering  and  service  is  no  modern  discovery. 
The  suffering  at  any  rate  has  been  recognised  from  the 
dawn  of  thought,  and  nothing  is  more  pathetic  reading 
than  the  hopeless  solutions  of  the  problem,  whether 
offered  by  Greek,  Buddhist,  or  ancient  Hebrew.  To 
the  latter  suffering  was  punitive :  even  in  the  most 
tender  of  the  Psalms  man's  days  were  conceived  as 
passed  away  "  in  God's  wrath."  "  Or  those  eighteen, 
upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell  and  slew  them, 
think  ye  that  they  were  sinners  above  all  men  that 
dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ? "  ^  asked  Jesus,  combating  this 
essentially  pagan  view.  But  to-day  we  realise  the 
purpose  of  suffering  in  perfecting  the  adjustments  of 

^  W.  W.  Peyton,  Contemporary  Review^  October  1900. 
"  Luke  xiii.  4. 

166 


NATURAL  SELECTION 

the  lower  creatures  to  the  world  around  them,  and  in 
perfecting  the  adjustment  of  man,  not  merely  to  the 
world  around  him,  but  to  that  larger  spiritual  world 
that  is  at  once  within,  around,  and  beyond  him.  Or  if 
we  may  not  yet  use  teleological  phrasing  in  our  inter- 
pretation, we  can  at  least  say  that  life  is  adjustment, 
and  that  sacrifice  and  suffering  are  means  for  perfecting 
the  adjustments  of  living  things  to  the  world  around 
them,  and,  as  so  increasing  the  sum  of  life,  are 
a  good. 

And  when  in  more  mystic  mood  we  consider  this 
suffering  and  service  in   the   light  of  the    Crucifixion 
they   seem  to  glow  with  an  added  lustre.      Suffering 
itself  is  service,  and  vicarious  suffering  is  its  highest 
expression.     The    principle    of   vicarious    self-sacrifice 
pervades  creation,  and  is  most  marvellously  provocative 
of  service  in  others.     At  Calvary  the  Creator  draws  men 
to  Him  by  His  own  submission  to  this  one  great  law 
of  sacrifice.     Viewed    in    this    light    the    misery    and 
seeming  waste  associated  with  the  struggle  for  existence 
are  seen  to  be  not  wholly  unconnected  with  the  pro- 
foundest  fact  in  history.     What  we  really  have  is  age- 
long unconscious  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  others  dimly 
foreshadowing    the    one    great   oblation.      There   is   a 
very  real  sense  in  which  the  survival  of  the  fit  is  the 
survival  of  the  obedient.     The  forms  of  life  that  have 
survived  are    those    that    adapted    themselves    to    the 
demands  of  the  environment,  and  progress  has  consisted 
in  completer  adaptation,  increased  specialisation,  more 
perfect  obedience.      He  was  obedient  unto  death,  even 
the  death  of  the  Cross :  therefore   He  lives.     And  so 
the  darkest  features  of  human  suffering  may  undergo 
a  strange   illumination,  and  cease  to  seem  the  cruel, 
meaningless    episodes    that    too     easily    they     might 
become.     The  outer  man  is  continually  being  sacrificed, 

167 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

but  in  the  interests  of  the  man  within,  or  of  other  men 
without,  or  even,  it  may  be,  of  the  world  beyond. 
The  Crucifixion  has  taught  us  once  for  all  that  there 
is  a  service  of  love  in  suffering  and  tribulation,  that 
out  of  death  there  springs  life. 


i68 


CHAPTER    VII 

VARIATION 

At  the  foundation  of  the  Darwinian  explanation  of 
Evolution  is  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  fortuitous 
variations  occurring  in  every  direction  in  every  part  of 
every  organism,  and  continuous  in  the  sense  that  all 
the  gradations  may  be  found  between  any  two  extremes. 
The  members  of  a  species,  though  resembling  one 
another  more  closely  than  they  do  all  other  creatures, 
are  yet  not  absolutely  alike.  No  two  oak  trees  are 
exactly  alike :  no  two  leaves  on  any  tree  are  identical. 
The  members  of  species  show  differences  that  make 
themselves  apparent  even  in  the  offspring  of  the  same 
parents.  It  is  the  inexperienced  eye  which  considers 
all  sheep  alike :  far  different  is  the  shepherd's  account. 
The  trained  observer  can  notice  measurable  differences 
in  the  Protozoa  produced  by  fission,  or  in  the  numerous 
broods  of  parthenogenetic  forms  like  Daphnia.  It  is 
these  small  though  universal  fluctuating  differences 
that  are  referred  to  by  the  general  name  of  variation, 
or  better,  variability,  and  to  variability  on  the  Darwinian 
theory  is  due  the  great  diversity  in  the  organic  kingdom 
throughout  all  time.  Without  it  there  could  have 
been  no  change  for  better  or  worse,  neither  ascent  nor 
descent,  neither  evolutionary  progress  nor  degeneration. 
If  offspring  had  always  resembled  their  progenitors, 
each  generation  would  have  been  the  facsimile  of  the 

169 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

last,  and  a  man  and  his  grandfather  would  not  have 
represented  such  extreme  terms  of  a  series  as  they  do 
under  present  conditions.  If  all  this  is  true,  it  is  only 
by  a  study  of  variability  that  we  may  hope  to  under- 
stand the  method  of  Evolution.  Variations  are  the 
material  furnished  to  Natural  Selection  :  some  of  them 
as  advantageous  are  preserved,  for  the  essence  of  the 
principle  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  is  utility.  The 
happy  possessors  become  the  parents  of  the  next 
generation ;  the  fortunate  character  is  transmitted  and 
tends  to  be  intensified. 

Although  there  are  no  absolute  distinctions, 
variations  can  be  usefully  grouped  according  to  the 
character  of  their  source  and  origin,  or  according  as 
they  show  quantitative  or  qualitative  change.  From 
the  former  point  of  view  we  may  distinguish  first,  those 
inborn  variations  that  apparently  have  no  relation  to 
external  conditions :  they  are  inherent  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  individual,  and  inherited  by  it.  In  origin 
they  are  abintral :  they  develop  under  the  stimulus  of 
nutriment.  We  shall  refer  to  them  as  genetic  variations. 
There  are  also  those  changes,  more  or  less  adaptive, 
that  are  caused  by  the  direct  action  of  external 
conditions,  that  are  the  result  of  use  and  disuse,  or 
arise  as  the  effect  of  something  environmental — climate, 
injury,  or  the  like.  They  are  incidental  and  abextral 
on  the  whole,  being  developed  under  the  stimulus  e.g. 
of  use  or  injury,  and  constitute  the  so-called  acquired 
characters.  According  to  Weismann's  views  the  latter 
are  not  transmitted.  The  term  "  acquired  character  " 
is,  however,  somewhat  misleading.  It  expresses  no 
absolute  distinction.  All  characters,  even  those  that 
are  genetic,  must  have  been  acquired  at  some  time  or 
another :  in  the  case  of  the  unicellular  form  the  dis- 
tinction reaches  the  vanishing  point.     We  shall  there- 

170 


VARIATION 

fore  speak  of  them  as  modifications.  From  another 
point  of  view  variations  may  be  regarded  as  continuous 
or  discontinuous,  quantitative  or  qualitative.  The  former 
group  will  include  that  type  of  small  fluctuating 
variation  of  which  any  gradation  between  two  extremes 
will  ordinarily  be  found  if  only  a  sufficient  number 
of  cases  is  sought  and  examined.  The  discontinuous 
variation  on  the  other  hand  is  sharply  marked  off 
from  the  other  members  of  the  group,  and  differs  so 
markedly  that  the  change  may  be  described  in  most 
cases  as  qualitative. 

In  regard  to  the  quantitative  fluctuating  variations, 
recent  advance  has  largely  consisted  in  their  statistical 
study,  for  it  was  an  early  Darwinian  difficulty  how  such 
minute  fluctuations  occurring  admittedly  sometimes  in 
but  a  few  cases,  perhaps  in  one,  could  involve  a  utility 
that  determined  life  or  death,  or,  if  they  did,  could 
avoid  being  swamped  by  cross-breeding  with  the  parent 
stock.  As  a  result  it  has  been  found  that  slight  fluctu- 
ating continuous  variations  are  abundant,  and  may 
affect  any  part  or  any  character — even  the  habits — of 
an  organism.  They  occur  in  domesticated  forms  and 
are  probably  equally  developed  in  feral  life.  Occasion- 
ally they  attain  considerable  magnitude,  sometimes  as 
much  as  25  per  cent,  with  gradations.  Further,  they 
are  all  capable  of  being  grouped  about  a  mean ;  but 
while  in  some  cases  the  most  frequent  measurement  or 
condition  (technically  called  the  mode)  may  be  found 
to  correspond  to  the  mean  ^  or  average  value  for  the 
character,  in  most  cases  it  is  found  that  under  changing 
conditions  there  is  not  a  marked  grouping  of  individuals 
on  the  mean.     On  the  contrary,  they  rather  tend  to 

1  Take  e.g.  four  men  with  heights  of  70,  72,  72,  74  :  the  mode  is  72  and 
corresponds  to  the  mean.  But  take  four  men  with  heights  of  68,  70,  70, 
76  :  the  mode  here  is  70,  but  the  mean  is  71. 

171 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

heap  up  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  mean,  with  the 
result  that,  very  roughly,  half  of  the  individuals  are 
above  the  mean  and  half  below  it  in  respect  of  any 
definite  character.  Often  the  disproportion  between 
the  two  groups  is  more  marked,  and  the  curve  of  their 
distribution  may  even  show  two  widely  separated  modes 
(dimorphism),  but  in  any  case  one  or  other  of  these 
groups  will  ordinarily  possess  the  advantageous  quality 
and  will  survive.  That  is  to  say,  the  facts  of  variation 
as  they  are  known  amongst  animals  seem  to  indicate 
advance  upon  the  principle  of  averages  rather  than  by 
any  selection  of  individual  variations  however  useful. 
Only  such  continuous  variations  as  simultaneously 
occur  in  many  individuals  could  therefore  have  much 
influence  upon  the  race.  The  variation  need  not  be 
obtrusively  useful  in  order  that  it  shall  come  within 
the  reach  of  Natural  Selection,  if  only  it  be  such  as 
can  vary  around  a  mean,  and  ultimately  be  correlated 
with  some  more  important  character  or  favourably 
influence  the  production  of  offspring.  Small  fluctuating 
variations  could  be  used  to  give  increase  in  any  definite 
direction  within  certain  limits,  if  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence is  keen  enough  to  make  that  amount  of  varia- 
tion of  selective  value,  and  that  direction  will  be  linear 
only. 

A  theoretical  illustration  may  serve  to  make  this 
principle  of  variation  clearer.^  Suppose,  for  example, 
that  owing  to  the  deeper  burrowing  in  trees  of  insect 
larvae  it  becomes  advantageous  to  a  race  of  woodpeckers 
to  have  a  more  elongated  tongue.  It  is  probable  that 
any  single  variation  producing  a  long  tongue  would 
have  little  or  no  influence  upon  the  species.  But  the 
statistical  study  of  fluctuating  variations  tends  to 
suggest  that  most  of  the  birds  of  a  species  have  tongues 

^  Cf.  H.  W.  Conn,  The  Method  of  Evolution^  p.  iii. 
172 


VARIATION 

either  longer  or  shorter  than  the  average.  If  three- 
fifths  of  the  birds  must  perish  during  some  period  of 
famine,  it  is  clear  that  the  two-fifths  that  succeed  in 
living  will  be  sure  to  contain  more  long-tongued  birds 
than  short-tongued  ones.  Now,  these  birds  will  mate 
with  one  another,  and  thus  there  would  be  no  oppor- 
tunity for  the  new  character  of  longer  tongues  to  be 
swamped  by  cross-breeding.  In  short,  it  has  definitely 
been  found  that  normal  variations  present  many 
simultaneous  variations  in  the  same  direction.  As  a 
result  the  next  generation  will  have  a  tongue  whose 
average  length  is  longer  than  the  average  of  the  last 
generation.  Evolution  thus  acts  upon  average  groups 
rather  than  upon  individual  variations :  "  advance  is  an 
advance  of  a  species  en  masse  and  not  by  isolated 
spurts."^  Individual  variations  count  for  little:  varia- 
tions above  or  below  a  mean  count  for  much.  Such 
an  advance  by  general  averages  will  eventually  reach 
a  state  of  equilibrium.  The  tongue  of  the  bird  will 
not  continue  to  lengthen  indefinitely,  because  a  point 
will  be  reached  beyond  which  any  increase  in  length 
would  be  disadvantageous.  With  the  lengthened  tongue 
there  presumably  may  be  correlated  a  corresponding 
lengthening  of  the  beak,  and  under  normal  conditions 
a  certain  average  character  of  the  organs  will  be  main- 
tained. Should  the  conditions  undergo  change,  another 
average  length  might  be  better  fitted  for  the  struggle, 
and  under  Natural  Selection  variations  in  that  direction 
would  evolve  the  new  mean. 

The  above  instance  is  theoretical,  but  sometimes  it  is 
possible  to  check  such  theory  by  observations  in  Nature. 
Such  a  chance  had  Professor  H.  C.  Bumpus  in  the  case 
of  the  (introduced)  English  sparrow  {Passer  domesticus^? 

^  Conn,  op.  cit.  p.  112. 

2  Biological  Lectures,  Wood's  IIoll,  1898,  p.  211. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

One  hundred  and  thirty-six  of  these  were  collected  in 
a  state  of  exhaustion  after  "  an  uncommonly  severe 
storm  of  snow,  rain,  and  sleet"  in  North  America 
(Feb.  I,  1898):  seventy-two  revived,  the  remainder 
perished.  Bumpus  made  a  series  of  careful  comparisons 
between  the  survivors  and  their  less  fortunate  kin  and 
noted  very  appreciable  morphological  differences.  It  is 
not  improbable  that  the  more  important  causes  of  survival 
or  the  reverse  were  physiological  rather  than  morpho- 
logical, but  we  may  consider  the  results  attained.  With- 
out going  into  the  actual  figures,  it  may  be  stated  that 
while  the  average  characters  differed  but  little  (and  the 
characters  investigated  were  total  length,  alar  length, 
weight,  length  of  beak  and  head,  etc.),  the  variability  of 
the  eliminated  birds  about  their  mean  was  much  greater 
than  that  of  the  survivors.  The  very  long  individuals, 
for  example,  suffered  heavily  in  the  struggle,  as  of  the 
thirty  males  obtained  in  which  the  total  length  was 
163  mm.  and  upwards,  no  less  than  twenty  perished: 
likewise  the  two  shortest  male  birds  perished.  Bumpus's 
general  conclusion  is  that  "  Natural  Selection  is  most 
destructive  of  those  birds  which  have  departed  most 
from  the  ideal  type,  and  its  activity  raises  the  general 
standard  of  excellence  by  favouring  those  birds  which 
approach  the  structural  ideal."  Of  this  ideal,  of  course, 
he  can  give  us  no  information,  and  further  the  number 
of  cases  observed  was  very  small,  but  if  all  the  sparrows 
in  that  region  had  been  affected  by  the  storm,  and  he 
could  have  extended  the  results  obtained  in  the  136 
to  them  all,  it  would  probably  have  appeared  that  the 
next  generation  of  birds  collected  in  that  storm-swept 
area  would  have  been  shorter  in  length,  of  less  weight, 
had  longer  legs,  wing  bones  and  breast  bone,  and  a 
greater  brain  capacity  than  their  predecessors. 

But,  now,  to  realise  that  a  certain  variation  appears 
174 


VARIATION 

simultaneously  in  many  individuals  is  to  surrender  the 
idea  of  pure  fortuity  and  to  make  the  variations  so 
appearing  determinate.  To  do  this,  however,  is  to  give 
up  Natural  Selection  as  the  basal  cause  of  Evolution. 
For  if  variations  are  in  this  or  in  any  measure  deter- 
minate, then  their  direction  is  determined  by  some 
prior  factor,  and  the  vital  factor  in  Evolution  is  not 
selection,  but  that  which  determines  the  character  and 
the  timely  appearance  of  these  variations  that  shall 
prove  to  have  selective  value.  All  that  Natural 
Selection  does  is  a  sort  of  police  work,  keeping  the 
species  moving  in  the  thoroughfare  and  destroying 
those  that  move  out  of  it. 

Accordingly  this  realisation  of  the  fact  of  determinate 
variation — this  tendency  on  the  part  of  many  individuals 
to  vary  simultaneously  in  a  similar  definite  direction — 
is  of  great  importance  in  the  interpretation  of  Evolution. 
Some  of  the  evidence  relating  to  discontinuous  varia- 
tions is  very  suggestive  in  this  connection,  as  we  shall 
see.  Darwin  himself  admitted  the  existence  of  deter- 
minate variation,  but  many  modern  biologists  believe 
that  determinate  evolution  is  the  actual  species-forming 
factor.  Continually  may  be  found  in  their  writings  the 
recognition  of  some  factor — a  "  directive  tendency," 
"  progressive  tendencies,"  or  "  inherent  influence  " — at 
work  prior  to  selection,  determining  the  character  and 
appearance  of  variations.  In  short,  the  evidence  for 
trends  to  modification  in  particular  directions,  for  this 
tendency  of  variations  to  group  themselves  and  be 
more  numerous  in  certain  directions  than  in  others, 
becomes,  where  it  is  noticeable,  singularly  impressive. 
We  may  not  be  able  to  understand  the  cause  and 
nature  of  the  phenomenon,  but  there  can  be  little  doubt 
of  its  affecting  evolution.  While  it  suggests  that  the 
direction    of  variation   and  hence    of  selection  is  pre- 

175 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

determined  in  some  way  either  in  the  nature  of  the 
living  form  or  in  its  relations  to  the  environment,  it,  at 
any  rate,  makes  it  certain  that  variation  cannot  be 
regarded  as  occurring  in  every  direction  and  fortuitous. 
Palaeontologists  in  particular  are  strongly  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  Evolution  has  proceeded  along 
definite  fixed  lines.  They  find  no  suggestions  of 
"  miscellaneous  trials,"  no  hints  of  the  myriad  failures 
that  the  other  point  of  view  demands.  W.  B.  Scott  in 
several  remarkable  papers  has  stated  this  view  very 
forcibly,  showing  that  the  horse  in  its  evolution  has  moved 
unswervingly  towards  a  predetermined  goal :  the  mean 
at  any  rate  moves  in  a  determinate  direction.  He  finds 
it  impossible  to  see  how  the  definite  progression  in  the 
teeth  can  be  explained  by  Natural  Selection :  the  little 
pin-points  of  difference  cannot  have  been  what  deter- 
mined the  life  or  death  of  the  species.  Every  stage  is 
represented,  and  the  evolution  is  direct  and  definite — 
at  least  it  gives  that  appearance.  He  has  well  compared 
the  line  of  this  definite  advance  to  the  "track  of  a 
cyclonic  storm  (which)  is  determined  by  the  path  of 
the  storm  centre,  around  which  the  winds  circulate, 
blowing  in  every  direction.  These  circulating  winds 
would  represent  the  variations  which  occur  at  every 
stage  in  the  history  of  a  phylum,  while  the  course  of 
the  storm  centre  would  represent  the  phylogenetic  change 
or  mutations.^  Thus  the  cycles  of  variation  tend  to 
repeat  themselves,  though  the  centre  around  which  they 
revolve  has  a  course  of  its  own,  dependent,  not  on  the 
accumulation  of  these  winds  which  happen  to  be  blow* 
ing  in  the  right  direction,  but  upon  factors  of  a  much 
wider  significance."  ^ 

But    the    origin    of  species   has,  in    addition,   been 

^  i.e.  in  Waagen's  sense  of  steady  advance  along  certain  definite  lines. 
^  Arnerican  Journal  of  Scie7ice,  vol.  xlviii.  p.  373. 

176 


VARIATION 

observed  from  considerable  variations  which,  as  un- 
connected with  others  by  gradational  stages,  and  as 
involving  very  definite  differences  of  sometimes  con- 
siderable amplitude,  are  known  as  discontinuous 
variations  (Bateson)  or  mutations  (de  Vries).  The 
theoretical  interest  in  such  occurrences  is  great,  for  if 
substantiated  they  would  remove  another  of  the  old 
weighty  objections  to  the  Darwinian  account.  For  it 
has  always  been  a  difficulty  to  see  how  the  first  stages, 
say  in  the  formation  of  a  new  organ,  or  even  of  an 
instinct, — the  initial  minute  variation  or  expression  of 
a  character  that  ultimately  in  a  more  developed  state 
was  found  to  have  survival-value, — could  be  of  such 
life-and-death  value  as  to  ensure  its  survival :  further, 
would  it.  not  probably  be  swamped  by  interbreeding 
with  the  common  stock  ?  A  partial,  though  incomplete, 
answer  was  offered  in  the  principle  of  correlation,  and 
in  the  established  fact  that  organs  have  often  changed 
in  character  and  function,^  and  that  possibly  the  different 
stages  may  each  have  been  useful  for  a  different  purpose. 
Now,  if  such  characters — and  this  applies  to  instincts 
and  habits  as  well — arise  in  a  more  pronounced  form, 
in  a  degree  sufficiently  developed  to  give  Natural 
Selection  a  handle  so  to  speak,  and  are  found  to  breed 
true  through  successive  generations,  this  difficulty 
vanishes.  Or,  again,  how  by  the  action  of  Natural 
Selection  on  a  series  of  minute  and  almost  imperceptible 
variations  could  there  arise  a  number  of  different 
structures  or  parts  so  co-ordinated  as  to  share  in  a 
common  function  ?  This  might  occur  as  a  mutation. 
As  sports  and  monstrosities  certain  extreme  variations 
have  long  been  recognised  and  known.  Darwin  him- 
self listed  several  such  sports,^  and  noted  that  certain 

^  e.g.  mammalian  lung  =  swim-bladder  offish. 
"  Atiimals  and  Plants  under  Domestication^  vol.  i.  chap.  3. 
M  177 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

species  or  races  at  least  of  domesticated  animals  and 
cultivated  plants  had  their  origin  in  this  way,  as  e.g. 
the  now  extinct  long-backed  ancon  sheep  with  short 
crooked  legs  descended  from  a  single  ram-lamb  born 
in  Massachusetts  1791  with  these  characters,  and  the 
merino  ram-lamb  raised  on  the  Mauchamp  farm  in  1828, 
remarkable  for  its  long,  smooth,  straight,  and  silky- 
wool.  What  had  not  been  realised  was  the  possible 
frequency  with  which  such  a  process  might  occur  in 
the  state  of  Nature,  the  possibility  that  such  sports  of 
a  less  extreme  character  have  ofteji  served  as  the  initial 
points  of  new  races,  the  possibility  that,  as  de  Vries 
maintains,^  "  species  have  not  arisen  through  gradual 
selection  operating  for  hundreds  or  thousands  of  years, 
but  by  steps  {Stufenweise),  through  sudden,  though 
quite  small,  transformations."  "  I  intend,"  he  says,^ 
"  to  give  a  review  of  the  facts  obtained  from  plants 
which  go  to  prove  the  assertion,  that  species  and 
varieties  have  originated  by  mutation,  and  are,  at 
present,  not  known  to  originate  in  any  other  way." 

Darwin's  variations  were  all  linear  and  quantitative : 
and,  says  de  Vries,  in  that  way  you  can  get  nothing 
new — only  increase  or  decrease  in  what  is  already  there, 
dependent  on  the  continuance  of  selection,  but  no 
qualitative  change.  This,  however,  is  not  a  serious 
objection,  for  many  specific  characters  are  simply 
quantitative  {e.g.  smooth  and  hairy  leaves),  and  many 
qualitative  ones  are  ultimately  quantitative.  Still, 
Galton's  Law  of  Regression  practically  shows  that 
variations  do  not  go  on  indefinitely  in  a  linear  series, 
but  soon  reach  their  limit — the  children  of  parents 
varying  from  the  mean  tend  to  vary  less  than  their 
parents  in  any  particular  direction, — and  unless  some 

^  Die  Mutationstheorie — 1 901 -1903,  p.  150. 
*  Species  and  Varieties^  p.  9. 

178 


VARIATION 

new  kind  of  variation  arises,  progress  in  one  specific 
direction  soon  ceases.  This  has  been  confirmed  e.g.  by 
Johannsen,  with  beans  and  barley  bred  in  pure  lines. 
He  notes  that  the  tendency  over  a  series  of  generations 
is  for  the  average  character,  rather  than  any  individual 
characteristics,  to  be  reproduced.  He  accordingly 
attributes  the  origin  of  new  types  either  to  the  crossing 
of  races  or  species  (hybridisation),  or  to  mutations. 

De  Vries'  account  of  his  own  work  is  as  follows : 
"  Complying  with  these  conditions  (requisite  for  sound 
experimental  work  in  plant-breeding),  the  origin  of 
species  may  be  seen  as  easily  as  any  other  phenomenon. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  have  a  plant  in  a  mutable  con- 
dition. Not  all  species  are  in  such  a  state  at  present, 
and  therefore  I  have  begun  by  ascertaining  which  were 
stable  and  which  were  not.  These  attempts,  of  course, 
had  to  be  made  in  the  experimental  garden,  and  large 
quantities  of  seed  had  to  be  procured  and  sown. 
Cultivated  plants,  of  course,  had  only  a  small  chance  to 
exhibit  new  qualities,  as  they  have  been  so  strictly 
controlled  during  so  many  years.  Moreover,  their 
purity  of  origin  is  in  many  cases  doubtful.  Among 
the  wild  plants  only  those  could  be  expected  to  reward 
the  investigator  which  were  of  easy  cultivation.  For 
this  reason  I  have  limited  myself  to  the  trial  of  wild 
plants  of  Holland,  and  have  had  the  good  fortune  to 
find  among  them  at  least  one  species  in  a  state  of 
mutability.  It  was  not  really  a  native  plant,  but  one 
probably  introduced  from  America,  or  at  least  belong- 
ing to  an  American  genus.  It  was  the  great  evening- 
primrose  or  the  primrose  of  Lamarck.  A  strain  of  this 
beautiful  species  is  growing  on  an  abandoned  field  in 
the  vicinity  of  Hilversum,  at  a  short  distance  from 
Amsterdam.  Here  it  has  escaped  from  a  park,  and 
multiplied.       In   doing    so    it    has    produced,    and    is 

179 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  xNATURE 

still  producing,  quite  a  number  of  new  types,  some  of 
which  may  be  considered  as  retrograde  varieties,  while 
others  evidently  are  of  the  nature  of  progressive 
elementary  species."  ^  "  The  main  fact,"  he  continues, 
about  the  mutating  species  "  is,  that  it  does  not  change 
itself  gradually,  but  remains  unaffected  during  all 
succeeding  generations.  It  only  throws  off  new  forms, 
which  are  sharply  contrasted  with  the  parent,  and  which 
are  from  the  very  beginning  as  perfect  and  as  constant, 
as  narrowly  defined,  and  as  pure  of  type  as  might  be 
expected  of  any  species. 

"  These  new  species  are  not  produced  once  or  in 
single  individuals,  but  yearly  and  in  large  numbers. 
The  whole  phenomenon  conveys  the  idea  of  a  close 
group  of  mutations,  all  belonging  to  one  single  con- 
dition of  mutability.  Of  course  this  mutable  state 
must  have  had  a  beginning,  as  it  must  some  time  come 
to  an  end.  It  is  to  be  considered  as  a  period  within 
the  lifetime  of  the  species,  and  probably  it  is  only  a 
small  part  of  it."  ^  All  which  is  an  interesting  combina- 
tion of  demonstration  and  speculation. 

To  state  de  Vries'  facts,  however,  briefly  :  in  his 
experimental  gardens  he  obtained,  in  seven  generations 
extending  over  twelve  years,  834  mutations  belong- 
ing to  seven  distinct  types  out  of  53,500  plants  of 
(Enothera  lamarckiana :  of  these  some  appeared  in 
greater  quantity  than  others.  Five  of  these  types  were 
observed  in  the  original  locality,  but  poorly  developed, 
as  also  two  other  distinct  forms,  thus  proving  that  the 
artificial  cultivation  was  not  the  cause  of  the  mutations. 
With  a  single  exception  all  these  types  breed  truly  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  they  differ  from  one  another  not 
merely  in  one  but  in  several  characters.     The  parent 

^  species  and  Varieties,  pp.  26,  27. 
2  Op.  cit.  pp.  28,  29. 
180 


VARIATION 

plant  holds  to  its  specific  type  all  through,  but  it  may 
give  rise  again  and  again  in  this  discontinuous  manner 
to  various  kinds  of  new  forms  differing  qualitatively 
from  it,  which  may  be  more  or  less  fit  to  survive  than 
the  parent  form,  and  if  fit,  remain  true  to  their  type. 
Transition  forms  may  be  found,  but  their  position  is 
not  linear,  they  are  not  necessarily  intermediate  steps : 
they  may  have  arisen  before,  simultaneously  with,  or 
after,  the  new  species.  Here,  then,  is  an  origin  of  species 
very  different  from  the  Darwinian  account. 

The  difference  between  the  two  theories  is  apparent. 
From  the  strictly  Darwinian  point  of  view  the  trans- 
formation of  species  is  effected  by  the  slow  selection  of 
favourable  variations  out  of  a  mass  of  minute  fortuitous 
fluctuations  affecting  usually  a  single  character  at  first, 
later  others  by  correlation  or  otherwise.  This  is  the 
view  shared  by  Wallace,  and  also  supported  by  Luther 
Burbank's  cultural  work.  On  the  de  Vriesian  view, 
species  originate  suddenly,  independently  of  the  Dar- 
winian variations,  by  the  occasional  appearance  in 
definite  discontinuous  form  of  one  or  several  consider- 
able variations  that  differentiate  the  new  species  thus 
originated  quite  markedly  from  the  old,  and  these  new 
characteristics  are  definitely  transmitted  to  succeeding 
generations.  According  to  the  Darwinian  view, 
Evolution  proceeds  by  a  slowly  winding  pathway  : 
according  to  de  Vries,  the  movement  is  step  by  step,  as 
it  were  up  a  staircase,  in  a  definite  direction. 

Two  questions  immediately  arise  in  connection  with 
the  mutation  theory.  To  what  extent  is  it  known  that 
such  mutations  give  rise  to  new  species,  and  what  are 
the  characters  of  these  mutations — determinate  or  in- 
determinate ? 

In  reply  to  the  first,  the  answer  is  that  the  number 
of  known  origins  of  species  or  races   from   such  muta- 

I8i 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

tions  is  disappointingly  small — disappointing,  that  is, 
as  in  support  of  what  de  Vries  claims   as  the   method 
of  origin  of  all  species.      In  the  particular  case  of  the 
evening-primrose  de  Vries  observed  twelve  mutations 
in  all  ;  MacDougal,  experimenting  with  the  same  form 
in  New  York,  obtained  thirteen.     The  Shirley  poppies, 
whose  petals  show  a  narrow  border  of  white,  arose  as 
a  mutation  of  the  common  wild  field  poppy,  and  a  few 
other     plant     mutations   are    known.       They   are    all, 
however, — and  even   de  Vries'  CEnothera  is  probably 
no  exception, — phenomena  of  artificial  cultivation,  under 
which  man  has  always  selected  forms  showing  striking 
differences — i.e.  he  has   selected  variability,  and  gets  it. 
In    the    animal    kingdom    even    yet    surprisingly    few 
instances  are  on  record  to  be  added  to  those  collected 
by  Darwin.      Of  species  in  a  state  of  nature  mutations 
have  been  described  in  the  case  of  a  few  insects,  and 
amongst    medusae   and  freshwater  fishes,   but   there   is 
no  evidence  of  these  producing  new  races.      Greater 
opportunities  of  observation  are  afforded  by  domesti- 
cated   forms,    and     here,     as    Castle     maintains,  "  the 
material  used  by  breeders  for  the  formation    of  new 
breeds  consists  almost  exclusively  of  mutations.  .   .  . 
On  the  whole,  it  appears  that  the  formation   of  new 
breeds   begins    with  the  discovery  of   an    exceptional 
individual,  or  with  the  production  of  such  an  individual 
by    means   of  cross-breeding.       Such    exceptional   in- 
dividuals  are  mutations."^      Stock  registers  show,   he 
states,  that  "  the  beginnings  of  new  breeds  are  small." 
A  herd  of  polled    Hereford  cattle  descended    from    a 
calf    born    at   Atchison,    Kansas,  in     1889,    cases    of 
generations  of  Polydactyly  in  human  beings,  Kennel's 
stump-tailed  cat  and  Castle's  guinea-pig  with  a  super- 
numerary fourth  digit  both  giving  rise  through  several 

^  Science^  vol.  xxi.  pp.  522,  524. 
182 


VARIATION 

generations  to  similar  offspring,  are  the  kind  of  evi- 
dence that  is  offered  in  support  of  a  theory  supposed 
by  many  to  supplant  the  Darwinian  conception  of 
variation  in  its  relation  to  the  origin  of  species.  Not, 
however,  of  Natural  Selection.  On  this  point  de  Vries 
is  most  explicit  :  "  Notwithstanding  all  these  apparently 
unsurmountable  difficulties,  Darwin  discovered  the 
great  principle  which  rules  the  evolution  of  organisms. 
It  is  the  principle  of  Natural  Selection.  It  is  the 
sifting  out  of  all  organisms  of  minor  worth  through 
the  struggle  for  life.  It  is  only  a  sieve,  and  not  a 
force  of  nature,  no  direct  cause  of  improvement,  as 
many  of  Darwin's  adversaries,  and  unfortunately  many 
of  his  followers  also,  have  so  often  asserted.  It  is  only 
a  sieve,  which  decides  which  is  to  live,  and  what  is 
to  die."  1 

But  our  question  was  whether  de  Vries  had 
suggested  a  truer  account  of  the  character  of  those 
variations  upon  which  Natural  Selection  is  admitted 
by  him  to  work  in  the  production  of  new  species :  and 
the  answer  is  very  doubtful.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
difficult  to  distinguish  between  a  large  fluctuating 
variation  and  a  small  mutation.  Even  in  the  case  of 
some  larger  mutations  it  still  remains  to  be  shown 
whether  the  apparent  discontinuity  may  not  simply  be 
due  to  insufficient  observation,  and  that  the  study  of 
a  still  larger  series  of  individuals  might  not  result  in 
the  discovery  of  forms  bridging  the  apparent  gap. 
The  mutation,  de  Vries  avers  on  the  strength  of  a 
decade  of  experimental  generations,  is  always  per- 
manent; the  fluctuating  variation  disappears.  But 
much  more  evidence  than  he  supplies  is  necessary  for 
the  support  of  both  statements.  Many  mutations  are 
comparatively  stable ;  it  does  not  follow  that  all   are 

^  species  and  Varieties,  p.  6. 

183 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

absolutely  so.  To  base  a  theory  of  evolution  on  the 
fact  that  fluctuating  variations  are  not  fixed  as  the 
result  of  man's  short  experimentation  with  them,  is  to 
be  blind  to  the  possibilities  in  the  patience  of  Nature, 
and  to  make  an  unwarrantable  generalisation  about  all 
mutations.  As  a  matter  of  probability,  the  mutation 
may  not  be  so  sharply  delimited  from  the  fluctuating 
variation  as  the  incisiveness  of  statement  of  the 
opposing  theories  suggests.  In  any  case,  mutation 
and  fluctuating  variation  are  alike  expressions  of  a 
ceaseless  metabolism,  just  as  the  constant,  internal 
motion  of  a  large  electric  clock  may  reveal  itself  either 
in  the  creeping  continuous  movement  of  the  hour  hand 
or  the  leaping  discontinuous  movement  of  the  minute 
hand.  In  any  case,  it  is  not  yet  disproved  that 
all  he  is  dealing  with  is  patency  and  latency  of  char- 
acters :  the  latent  character  may  not  reappear  until 
after  many  generations.  In  the  second  place,  its  value 
is  impaired  by  the  peculiar  de  Vriesian  conception  of  a 
species.  "  Pedigree-culture  is  the  method  required," 
he  says,  "  and  any  form  which  remains  constant  and 
distinct  from  its  allies  in  the  garden  is  to  be  considered 
as  an  elementary  species.  .  .  .  Linnseus  himself  knew 
that  in  some  cases  all  subdivisions  of  a  species  are  of 
equal  rank,  together  constituting  the  group  called 
species.  No  one  of  them  outranks  the  others:  it  is 
not  a  species  with  varieties,  but  a  group  consisting  only 
of  varieties.  A  closer  inquiry  into  the  cases  treated  in 
this  manner,  by  the  great  master  of  systematic  science, 
shows  that  here  his  varieties  were  exactly  what  we 
now  call  elementary  species."  ^  De  Vries  believes  that 
the  discontinuous  variation  appearing  in  one  or  more 
individuals  will  through  its  permanence  constitute 
eventually  an  elementary  species.      New  species  arise 

■^  op.  cit.  pp.  12,  13. 
184 


VARIATION 

by  the  selection  of  the  fittest  elementary  species  rather 
than  individuals.  This  involves  a  conception  of  species 
as  sharply  distinct  from  one  another,  which  is  not 
what  meets  the  eyes  of  the  taxonomist  in  the  world  of 
living  things.  It  is  the  continuity  that  baffles  there. 
On  the  other  hand,  de  Vries  has  done  real  service  in 
introducing  the  conception  of  unit  species  characters 
that  are  incapable  of  divisibility  and  must  therefore 
have  arisen  discontinuously,  and  which  further  will 
not  blend  in  inheritance,  but  are  handed  on  either 
dominant  and  so  visible,  or  recessive  and  so  latent. 
In  the  third  place,  not  only  is  the  evidence  for  muta- 
tions in  a  state  of  nature  precariously  small,  but  it 
is  open  to  question  whether  de  Vries  himself,  although 
laying  such  insistence  on  the  necessity  of  thorough 
knowledge  of  pedigree,  was  right  in  his  views  of  the 
origin  and  past  history  of  his  own  experimental  form. 
It  has  not  been  found  wild  in  America,  whence  it  was 
supposed  to  have  come :  quite  possibly  it  is  a  domesti- 
cated hybrid,^  produced  by  crossing  various  forms  of 
the  dimorphic  O.  biennis^  which  was  definitely  intro- 
duced into  France  from  America  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  is  at  least  significant  that  de  Vries  found 
no  hint  of  mutation — no  revelation  of  latent  characters 
— in  the  hundred  other  cases  of  native  species  that  he 
investigated.^  While,  then,  it  is  of  great  importance 
to  know  that  such  discontinuous  variations  do  occur, 
and  that  on  occasion  they  may  result  in  the  origin  of 
new  races,  possibly  of  new  species,  there  is  absolutely 
no  warrant  for  the  extension  of  such  a  mode  of  origin 
to  all  existing  species.  We  still  await  an  unequivocal 
instance  of  the  origin  of  a  species  in  a  state  of  nature 

^  G.  A.  V>ov\z.x\^tx^  Journal  of  Botany^  Oct.  1907. 

2  Bateson  has  made  the  interesting  suggestion  that  mutations  may  be 
simply  pure  Mendelian  recessives  appearing  after  a  crossing  (cf.  p,  208  fT. ). 

185 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

from  some  discontinuous  form  or  forms.  The  possi- 
bility is  that  both  methods  are  in  operation.  Theoreti- 
cally, quite  apart  from  all  demonstration,  the  idea  of 
the  mutation  is  very  helpful.  Man  certainly  varies  in 
almost  every  feature  of  his  physical  frame,  and  it  is 
not  improbable  that  the  pigmy  races  of  Central  Africa 
had  their  origin  in  a  mutation.  Man  himself  may 
have  originated  from  his  anthropoid  ancestor  as  a 
discontinuous  variation.  In  fact,  the  discontinuous 
variation  conforms  to  the  correct  conception  of  a 
"  break "  as  outlined  at  an  earlier  point.^  "  In  view 
of  the  amount  of  orderly  and  well-authenticated 
evidence  now  at  hand,  it  may  be  regarded  as  demon- 
strated that  characters,  and  groups  of  characters,  of 
appreciable  physiological  value,  originate,  appear  in 
new  combinations  or  become  latent,  in  hereditary  series 
of  organisms,  in  such  manner  as  to  constitute  distinct 
breaks  in  descent."  ^ 

Our  second  inquiry  related  to  the  determinate  or 
other  origin  of  these  mutations.  They  are  certainly 
in  the  first  instance  genetic ;  there  is  no  question  of 
their  acquirement  by  use  or  disuse,  or  by  the  action 
of  the  environment.  With  this  fact  may  be  correlated 
their  permanence.  De  Vries  seems  to  consider  their 
origin  indeterminate.  "  In  contrast  with  the  fluctuating 
variations  which  are  continuous  changes  in  a  linear 
direction,  the  transformations  which  we  call  mutations 
are  given  off  in  new  directions.  They  take  place,  so 
far  as  experience  goes,  without  definite  direction,  i.e. 
in  the  most  diverse  directions."  ^  Apart  from  the 
apparent  paradox  involved  in  the  conclusion, — which 
in   any  case  is  represented  by  no  greater  number  than 

1  P.  129. 

2  MacDougal,  Science,  vol.  xxi.  p.  540. 
'  Die  Mutationstheorie,  vol.  i.  p.  150. 

186 


VARIATION 

13^ it  is  remarkable  that  in  seven  successive  genera- 
tions,  amongst    several    thousand   CEnothera   lamarck., 
the   mutant  nanella  appeared    5,  3,  60,  49,  9,  n,  21 
times,  and  ohlonga   176,    I3  5>  29,  9,  and    i    times  in 
five    successive    generations,   and    similarly    with     the 
other  forms.^      As  de  Vries  himself  says,  "  a  species, 
therefore,  is  not  born  only  a  single  time,  but  repeatedly, 
in  a  large  number  of  individuals   and   during  a  series 
of  consecutive  years."       Now  these  mutants  differ  from 
one  another  not  in  one  but  in  several  characters,  and 
the  appearance    of   these   different    distinct    forms    in 
such  considerable  numbers    in   successive    generations 
appears  to  banish  fortuity  out  of  court,  and  to  compel 
belief  in  some  measure  at  least  of  determination. 

We  have  now  learned  a  little  about  the  manner  of 
variation,  but  with  regard  to  its  actual  cause  we  have 
made  no  progress,  although  it  is  obvious  that  in  the 
solution  of  this  problem  our  ultimate  understanding  of 
evolution  will  lie.  We  have  as  yet  no  sufficient 
explanation  of  the  origin  of  variations  or  of  that 
accumulation  of  them  in  definite  directions  that  at  a 
certain  stage  acquires  selective  value  because  of  their 
utility.  In  these  pre-selective  moments  the  secret  is 
hid,  but  it  is  a  secret  shared  with  the  Environment, 
which  may  perhaps  by  skilful  interrogation  be  pre- 
vailed upon  to  surrender  it. 

1  The  numbers  of  individuals  examined  in  each  generation  were  not 
equal. 


187 


CHAPTER    VIII 

HEREDITY 

Heredity  is  the  link,  the  genetic  relation,  which  binds 
one  generation  to  another.  It  is  the  expression  by 
which  we  designate  that  well-known  and  long-observed 
tendency  of  plants  and  animals  to  resemble  their 
immediate  progenitors.  In  popular  phrase  the  truth 
has  been  enshrined  for  ages.  "  Blood  will  tell,"  men 
say,  suggesting  that  the  past  in  some  way  determines 
the  present :  "  the  chip  of  the  old  block "  is  still  the 
perpetual  joy  of  his  father's  friends.  Heredity  is  the 
great  conservative  factor  in  Evolution.  It  is  the 
register  alike  of  progress  and  regression :  it  is  a  per- 
petual guarantee  against  organic  chaos  and  disorder. 
If  there  is  something  centrifugal,  adventurous,  and 
experimental  in  the  widespread  organic  tendency  to 
variation,  there  is  that  which  is  centripetal,  steadying, 
and  eminently  contented  in  Heredity. 

The  outlook  of  Heredity  is  as  broad  as  life,  although 
there  is  just  a  chance  that  it  is  not  as  old  as  life.  The 
earliest  organisms,  immensely  variable,  must  have  lived 
some  time  before  a  fund  of  heritable  organic  experience 
was  collected.  Viewed  in  its  relation  to  man.  Heredity 
provides  the  undertone  of  the  Greek  tragedian,  the 
burden  of  the  modern  social  reformer's  cry  of  despair. 
It  is  that  one  of  the  Fates  whom  men  think  they 
know,  into  whose  face  they  have  looked  and  sometimes 

i88 


HEREDITY 

found  a  friend,  more  often  recognised  an  enemy.  As 
a  scientific  problem  it  raises  questions  innumerable 
that  touch  man  at  every  point  of  his  complex  being. 
Take  but  a  single  instance,  that  of  the  transmissibility 
of  "  acquired  characters  " — a  question  upon  which  there 
is  yet  no  finality  of  judgment.  Here  is  a  matter 
whose  practical  aspects  far  outweigh  in  importance 
those  that  are  theoretical :  it  touches  man  in  every 
department  of  his  being — physical,  intellectual,  and 
spiritual  alike.  In  Sir  Francis  Galton's  diction,  Is 
Nature  stronger  than  Nurture,  or  Nurture  than  Nature  ? 
It  is  characteristic  of  the  modern  attitude  that  no 
investigator  thinks  that  the  general  and  particular 
problems  of  heredity  are  ultimately  insoluble.  Day 
by  day  the  influence  of  ancestry  is  becoming  more 
exactly  known,  as  also  the  part  played  by  various 
factors  in  determining  the  nature  of  offspring.  The 
necessity  of  watching  and  acquainting  ourselves  with 
the  development  of  modern  science  in  this  connection 
is  peculiarly  important  in  face  of  views  upon  the 
question  that  are  racial  in  their  influence  if  not  in  their 
groundwork  of  experience.  Even  the  ancient  Hebrews 
had  a  definite,  and  in  many  respects  incontrovertible, 
theory  of  heredity.^  They  were  at  one  with  us  in 
perceiving  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  the  apparently 
exclusive  principles  of  the  transmission  of  qualities 
from  parent  to  child,  and  of  personal  responsibility : 
but  we  are  nearer  the  solution  than  they.  Mean- 
while, the  application  in  the  practical  sphere  is 
very  obvious,  for  preacher,  physician,  and  social 
reformer  are  each  compelled  to  note  that  men  are  not 
alike ;  that  the  same  treatment  is  not  suitable  for  every 
case ;  and  that  to  be  effective,  reformation,  moral  and 
physical,  must  be  not  wholesale,  but  individual. 

^  Ex.  XX,  5  ;  Ezek.  xviii.  2-4. 
189 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

In  a  striking  study  entitled  TJie  Heredity  of 
Richard  Roe^  President  D.  S.  Jordan  makes  an 
analysis  of  the  physical  contents  of  the  "  pack  "  carried 
through  life  by  the  typical  individual  of  that  name. 
The  handicap  imposed  by  it  varies  so  greatly  with 
different  individuals  that  when,  as  in  the  case  of  Roe's 
more  famous  prototype,  the  pack  has  become  a  great 
burden  consciously  or  unconsciously  borne,  a  whole 
school  of  modern  philosophy  will  explain  the  one  in 
terms  of  the  other,  and  be  ready  to  acquit  the  indi- 
vidual of  all  moral  responsibility.  This,  however,  is 
one  of  the  final  problems  of  heredity :  let  us  first  be 
present  with  Jordan  at  the  inventorying  of  the  pack. 

As  the  son  of  his  parents,  Richard  Roe  has  amongst 
its  contents  the  burden  of  his  humanity.  No  apology 
need  be  offered  for  this  initial  seeming  confusion 
between  the  burden  and  the  man,  for  it  is  an  instructive 
biological  fact  that  the  man  is  the  burden  :  his  humanity 
itself  is  the  main  part  of  the  contents  of  the  pack. 
In  common  speech,  we  make  a  broad  distinction 
between  inheritance  and  inheritor,  between  property 
and  heir;  but  in  biology  the  fertilised  ^g^  cell  is  at 
once  the  potential  heir  and  the  inheritance.  This 
obviously  means  a  complexity  of  organisation  and 
potentiality  in  the  fertilised  q%^  cell  that  almost  seems 
incomprehensible,  and  yet  it  is  difficult  to  escape  the 
conclusion.  The  environment  certainly  plays  its  part 
in  the  supply  of  the  necessary  stimuli  under  whose 
gentle  or  rude  influence  development  proceeds ;  still  it 
is  clear  that  in  some  measure  involution  must  have 
preceded  evolution.  Again,  his  pack  will  have  the 
distinctive  inward  and  outward  features  connected  with 
the  racial  group  of  travellers  to  which  he  belongs. 
That  is  to  say,  if  he  be  of  Celtic  parentage,  he  will  be 
in  nature  a  Celt :  there  will  be  no  Indian  or  Mongolian 

190 


HEREDITY 

characteristic  associated  with  him.  He  will  be  fiery, 
but  not  with  the  passion  of  the  south  Italian  ;  he  will 
be  imaginative,  but  not  in  the  mental  symbolism  of 
the  Oriental.  Be  he  an  Anglo-Saxon,  he  will,  at  least 
originally,  have  combined  in  him  the  balance  of 
qualities  that  has  given  that  people  racial  predominance. 
But  in  addition  to  his  common  humanity  and  his 
racial  qualities,  there  are  in  his  pack  characteristics 
that  will  be  found  in  his  and  in  his  alone — viz.  the 
individual  qualities,  the  distinctive  features,  the 
peculiarities  by  which  he  is  recognised  as  different 
from  his  fellow-packman.  It  is  these  distinctive 
physical  differences  that  constitute  the  variation  of 
the  organic  world.  But  there  are  mental  differences 
and  varieties  of  character  and  temperament  that  are 
no  less  important  than  these  more  material  differences 
that  we  can  weigh  and  measure.  It  is  as  if  after 
every  fresh  creation  Nature  broke  the  die.  She  has 
no  duplicates :  one  man  is  not  as  good  or  as  bad  as 
another.  He  is  himself,  and  differs  in  a  certain 
spacious  way  from  every  other  being.  The  reason 
of  this  has  appeared  in  the  course  of  previous  cell 
studies  as  they  bore  on  heredity.^  By  the  law  of 
sex  reproduction,  Richard  Roe  has  twice  as  many 
ancestors  as  either  of  his  parents  had.  They  may 
hand  on  to  him  any  of  the  hereditary  gifts  that  they 
received  from  their  predecessors,  and  in  any  proportion. 
We  might  assume  that  half  of  his  inheritance  came 
from  his  father  and  half  from  his  mother,  but  we  are 
thrown  out  in  that  simple  calculation  when  we  find 
in  him  qualities  that  are  not  apparent  in  either  his 
father  or  his  mother.  It  is  possible  that  the  new 
features  may  be  perfect  blends  of  qualities  that 
characterised  his  parents,  but  it  is  just  as  possible — 

1  P.  103. 
191 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  in  many  cases  it  can  be  shown — that  they 
represent  the  characteristics  of  a  yet  older  generation, 
so  that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  Richard  Roe  is  a 
mosaic  of  his  ancestry  rather  than  an  ego.  That  is 
to  say,  in  his  pack  you  will  find  parental  qualities, 
but  also  those  of  his  grandparents  and  of  his  great- 
grandparents,  even  of  generations  farther  back :  the 
contents  of  his  pack  are  historic,  samples  of  the 
distinguishing,  as  also  of  the  very  ordinary,  features 
of  his  line. 

Richard  Roe,  then,  in  his  initial  stage  of  a  single 
fertilised  egg  cell  seems  simple  enough,  but  the 
simplicity  is  seeming  only.  How  in  the  mixed 
chromatin  that  constitutes  the  essential  feature  of  the 
cell  lie  his  potentialities  of  good  and  evil,  together 
with  the  colour  of  his  eyes,  the  tone  of  his  voice,  his 
peculiar  gait — all,  in  short,  that  goes  to  make  him 
what  he  is  and  what  we  know  him  by — transcends 
our  powers  of  imagination.  It  is  the  wonder  of  the 
Infinite — the  infinitely  little,  the  infinitely  great.  In 
these  chromatin  granules  of  his  two  parents  lie  his 
capacities,  but  amongst  them — perhaps  latent,  perhaps 
to  be  expressed — are  qualities  of  past  generations  that 
were  handed  on  to  them.  Not  easily  does  the  dead 
hand  let  go  its  grip  either  in  law  or  in  life,  but  the 
grasp  becomes  feebler  as  the  ages  roll  on.  Of  the 
dual  nature  of  inheritance  no  one  has  any  doubt ; 
but  the  conception  of  this  larger  multiple  ancestral 
character  of  heredity — which  is  simply  what  we  mean 
when  we  speak  of  the  solidarity  of  the  human  race — 
is  not  so  frequently  before  our  minds.  Yet  obviously 
Richard  Roe  could  not  inherit  all  the  peculiarities  of 
his  father  or  of  his  mother :  he  could  not  be  composed 
of  peculiarities  alone.  There  is  in  him  a  great  measure 
of  the   old   common   heritage   which   was  his  parents' 

192 


HEREDITY 

before  him.  Perhaps  the  most  careful  attempted 
statistical  conclusion  bearing  on  this  subject  is  that 
known  as  Galton's  Law  of  Ancestral  Inheritance.  It 
was  elaborated  as  the  result  of  that  worker's  biometrical 
investigations  in  the  inheritance  of  such  characters 
as  vary  continuously  and  are  therefore  measurable,  e.g. 
human  stature,  and  more  particularly  in  connection 
with  a  series  of  observations  on  the  coat-colour  in 
Basset-hounds.  What  Sir  Francis  Galton  maintained 
is  that  in  the  case  of  every  inherited  faculty  the  two 
parents  contribute  on  an  average  one-half,  i.e.  each 
of  them  contributes  a  quarter  of  the  individual 
peculiarity.  The  four  grandparents  between  them 
contribute  a  quarter,  or  each  of  them  one-sixteenth ; 
and  so  on  in  the  series  i-  +  J  +  J  +  tV  •  •  .,  obviously 
leaving  one-quarter  of  the  whole  inheritance  as  coming 
down  from  the  generations  previous  to  that  of  the 
grandparents.  Karl  Pearson,  approaching  the  problem 
in  a  slightly  different  manner,  gives  the  series  '6244, 
•1988,  •0630,  i.e.  he  finds  the  parental  bequest  to  be 
greater  and  the  ancestral  less  than  on  the  Galtonian 
scheme.  As  a  matter  of  logic,  Galton's  Law  simply 
gives  us  the  induction  that,  on  the  average,  offspring 
tend  to  resemble  ancestors  in  certain  definite  degrees. 
His  physiological  deduction  that  these  ancestors 
contribute  in  these  definite  proportions  to  the  heritage 
of  the  descendants  is  strictly  unproved.  Further,  his 
induction,  like  all  such  generalisations,  can  only  be  used 
in  practice  in  dealing  with  the  mass  of  cases.  It  is  a 
statistical  study,  and  is  useless  as  a  practical  aid  to  any 
prediction  in  the  individual  instance.  It  deals  with  the 
fluctuating  variations  only,  and  is  incapable  of  empha- 
sising the  import  of  the  true  variation  or  mutation. 

There   is   one   point   of  further  interest.     We  note 
as   a   result   of  fertilisation   a    persistent   tendency   to 

N  193 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

return  to  the  type,  and  so  keep  up  a  specific  average 
from  generation  to  generation,  in  the  absence  of 
stringent  selection.  Karl  Pearson  offers  a  good 
statistical  example.  In  the  case  of  fathers  72  inches 
in  height,  the  mean  height  of  their  sons  was  found 
to  be  70*8  inches — a  regression  towards  the  mean 
of  the  general  population ;  on  the  other  hand,  fathers 
with  a  mean  height  of  66  inches  gave  a  group  of 
sons  whose  mean  height  was  68*3  inches — i.e.  they 
had  progressed  towards  the  mean  of  the  general 
population  of  sons.  "  The  father  with  a  great  excess 
of  the  character  contributes  sons  with  an  excess  but 
a  less  excess  of  it :  the  father  with  a  great  defect 
of  the  character  contributes  sons  with  a  defect,  but 
less  defect  of  it.  The  general  result  is  a  sensible 
stability  of  type  and  variation  from  generation  to 
generation.""^  This  evident  regression  towards  medi- 
ocrity, this  tendency  to  approximate  to  the  mean  or 
average  of  the  stock,  is  known  as  the  Law  of  Filial 
Regression.  The  degree  of  regression  becomes  a 
measure  of  the  intensity  of  inheritance.  As  enunciated 
by  Galton  in  his  Natural  Inheritance,  the  bearing 
of  the  law  is  sometimes  a  little  difficult  to  follow. 
"  It  must  be  clearly  understood,"  however,  he  con- 
cludes, "  that  there  is  nothing  in  these  statements  to 
invalidate  the  general  doctrine  that  the  children  of 
a  gifted  pair  are  much  more  likely  to  be  gifted  than 
the  children  of  a  mediocre  pair.  They  merely  express 
the  fact  that  the  ablest  of  all  the  children  of  a  few 
gifted  pairs  is  not  likely  to  be  as  gifted  as  the  ablest 
of  all  the  children  of  a  very  great  many  mediocre 
pairs."  ^  If  you  ask  the  statistician.  How  do  you  ex- 
plain these  phenomena  of  regression  and  progression  ? 
his    answer    is    not    far    to  seek.     As    Galton   has  it, 

^  The  Grammar  of  Science^  p.  456.  -  Op.  cit.  p.  106. 

194 


HEREDITY 

society  moves  as  a  vast  fraternity.  A  man  is  not 
merely  the  product  of  his  parents  but  of  his  ancestry, 
which  in  the  tenth  generation  v^ill  amount  to  some 
1024  tenth  grandparents — an  ancestral  population 
whose  mean  cannot  differ  greatly  from  that  of  the 
general  population,  unless  there  has  been  extraordinarily 
careful  selection.  "  It  is  the  heavy  weight  of  this 
mediocre  ancestry,"  says  Pearson,^  "  which  causes  the 
son  of  an  exceptional  father  to  regress  towards  the 
general  population  mean :  it  is  the  balance  of  this 
sturdy  commonplace  which  enables  the  son  of  a 
degenerate  father  to  escape  the  whole  burden  of  the 
parental  ill."  In  other  words,  children  tend  to  differ 
from  mediocrity  less  than  their  parents — that  is  to 
say,  "  the  mean  deviation  of  the  sons  from  the  mean 
of  the  population  is  less  than  the  deviation  of  the 
fathers."  ^  This  average  ratio  of  the  mean  deviations 
of  the  sons  to  the  deviations  of  the  fathers  is  known 
as  "  the  coefficient  of  correlation  "  between  father  and 
son  for  the  particular  character.  For  a  number  of 
characters  it  has  been  calculated  to  be  '48,  i.e.  on 
the  average  children  deviate  from  the  mean  about 
half  as  much  as  the  parent ;  with  grandchildren  the 
deviation  is  one-fourth.  When  the  mean  of  the  two 
parents  is  taken,  a  value  is  obtained  which  Galton 
has  styled  the  "  mid-parent,"  when  the  correlation 
already  referred  to  will  naturally  be  higher.  It  must 
be  observed,  however,  that  while  the  Pearsonian 
induction  of  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  exceptional 
groups  to  return  towards  mediocrity  in  the  absence 
of  direct  interference  by  Natural  Selection  is  sound, 
the  accompanying  deduction,  that  on  cessation  of 
selection  the  race  or  species  tends  to  remain  stable, 
is    not    absolutely    valid.       Apart    from    the    case    of 

^  Op.  cit.  p.  456.  2  L^  Doncaster,  Heredity^  p.  37. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

small  mutations  which  will  be  considered  later,  the 
actual  appeal  to  reality  shows  that  with  fluctuating 
universal  variations  any  cessation  of  selection  results 
eventually  in  retrogression.  The  reason  of  this  lies 
partly  in  the  implications  of  Recapitulation,  partly  in 
those  of  biparental  inheritance.  We  have  seen  that 
inasmuch  as  the  individual  recapitulates  the  parental 
development,  it  likewise  recapitulates,  though  much 
more  cursorily,  the  history  of  the  race.  Any  retro- 
gressive character  therefore  that  appears  must  be  of 
the  nature  of  a  reversion  to  some  ancestral  type — 
a  sort  of  arrested  development  so  far  as  failure  to 
advance  beyond  that  particular  character  is  concerned. 
The  ancestral  influence  might  even  be  regarded  as 
not  represented  or  exerted  en  masse,  so  to  speak, 
but  in  an  orderly  succession.  As  Archdall  Reid 
says,  "  The  so-called  contributions  of  ancestors  are 
nothing  other  than  reversions — that  is  to  say,  failures 
to  recapitulate  the  life-history  beyond  the  points 
reached  by  the  ancestors,  or  else  the  reappearance 
of  hitherto  dormant  characters."  ^  In  the  absence  of 
Natural  Selection  these  retrogressive  variations  tend 
to  assert  themselves :  they  have  been  so  long  estab- 
lished. Natural  Selection  has  directly  to  do  with 
progression  :  retrogression  would  thus  appear  to  "  plane 
away "  redundant,  useless  variations.  Further,  this 
process  is  aided  by  biparental  reproduction.  Blended 
inheritance  such  as  is  usual  in  all  except  certain 
definite  characters  ^  tends  to  result  in  retrogression, 
in  a  return  to  the  mean  type,  inasmuch  as  it  substitutes 
the  experience  of  the  race  in  place  of  that  of  the 
individual.  In  fact,  the  function  of  sex  reproduction 
seems  to  be  to  bring  about  retrogression — not  in  any 

^  The  Laws  of  Heredity,  by  G.  Archdall  Reid,  p.  209. 
2  The  now  well-recognised  Mendelian  characters.     Cf.  p.  208. 
196 


HEREDITY 

haphazard  fashion,  but  by  the  elimination  of  useless 
characters  without  accompanying  extinction  of  the  in- 
dividuals possessing  them.  "  Progression,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  caused  through  Natural  Selection  eliminating 
individuals  that  do  not  possess  in  a  sufficient  degree 
certain  characters  that  prove  useful  in  the  struggle."^ 
The  blending  produced  as  the  result  of  sex  repro- 
duction tends  to  bring  about  the  more  or  less  rapid 
retrogression  of  useless  characters — a  retrogression  that 
is  only  checked  or  reversed  by  Natural  Selection. 

On  examination,  then,  the  contents  of  Richard 
Roe's  pack  prove  to  be  a  'composite  of  potentialities, 
the  actualising  or  bringing  to  light  of  which  depends 
so  to  speak  on  the  weather  in  which  the  pack  is 
subjected  to  scrutiny,  and  on  the  individuals  around 
who  have  the  interest  and  wisdom  to  pull  out  or  push 
back  these  potentialities,  as  also  on  the  packman  him- 
self. His  personality,  so  largely  built  up  out  of 
elements  that  have,  as  it  were,  been  actually  used 
before  him  by  many  others,  is  the  resultant,  the 
ensemble  of  this  interplay  with  the  environment.  If 
we  fasten  our  eyes  upon  his  immediate  parentage 
only,  we  may  be  perplexed  as  to  the  possibility  of 
progress  in  his  individual  life,  but  to  do  so  is  to  forget 
that  in  him  lie  latent  the  potentialities  of  his  remoter 
ancestry,  and  that  if  he  be  brought  into  the  suitable 
environment  they  may  be  actualised.  Often  it  is 
clearly  demonstrated  that  special  circumstances  are 
required  to  bring  a  definite  group  of  qualities  into 
public  action.  Who  would  ever  have  heard  of  John 
Knox  had  it  not  been  for  the  call  of  that  St.  Andrews 
congregation  addressed  to  him  at  an  age^  previous  to 
which  most  men  have  given  the  promise  of  their 
future?      Instances    can    easily    be  multiplied  of  men 

1  G.  Archdall  Reid,  op.  cit.  p.  198.  -  Forty- two. 

197 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

who  were  made  by  circumstances  as  opposed  to 
those  others  who  have  made  circumstances,  and  under 
Richard  Roe's  humble  name  there  may  He  concealed 
a  noble  heritage,  which  if  latent  in  him,  because  up  to 
a  certain  point  he  has  not  come  under  the  influence  of 
the  appropriate  stimuli,  may  yet  be  revealed  in  him 
or  in  another  generation. 

Richard  Roe,  we  stated,  had  twice  as  many 
ancestors  as  either  of  his  parents.  Theoretically  this 
is  true :  practically  it  certainly  is  not  the  case,  owing 
to  the  intercrossing  of  families.  In  most  lines  of 
ancestry  this  must  have  occurred  many  times,  and  as 
a  result  a  man's  whole  ancestry  will  generally  be 
found  re-entering  at  different  points  in  his  individual 
pedigree.  So  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II.  might  have  had  i6, 
32,  64,  128  ancestors  in  generations  four  to  eight;  as  a 
matter  of  fact  he  only  had  14,  24,  44,  74,  and  the 
disproportion  is  even  more  marked  in  the  previous 
generations.  A  common  English  family  boast  is  that 
of  descent  from  some  one  who  came  over  to  England 
with  William  the  Conqueror.  As  a  matter  of  fact  any 
individual  descended  from  two  parents,  four  grand- 
parents, eight  great-grandparents,  and  so  on,  would  be 
entitled  at  the  end  of  the  thirty  generations  between 
him  and  the  Norman  to  an  ancestry  of  some 
8,598,094,592  souls,  and  it  is  only  charitable  to 
suppose  that  amongst  that  number  there  was  at  least 
one  of  whom  he  might  be  reasonably  proud.  But  of 
course  the  number  of  Englishmen  in  William's  or  in 
any  time  is  but  a  very  small  percentage  of  that 
total :  most  of  the  man's  ancestors  have  been  included 
in  the  tally  several  times.  Descent  is  not  so  truthfully 
represented  by  a  long  chain,  each  link  of  which  will 
stand  for  an  individual  who  has  left  offspring,  as  by 
a  network,  very  involved  and  extended,  in  which  the 

198 


HEREDITY 

individual  is  represented  by  a  strand  that  is  related 
before  and  behind  and  on  either  side  with  other 
strands  in  this  most  complex  web  of  life.  Accordingly 
it  is  pretty  certain  that,  as  President  Jordan  remarks, 
"  the  blood  of  each  person  in  Alfred's  time  who  left 
capable  descendants  is  represented  in  every  family  of 
England  of  strict  English  descent.  In  other  words, 
every  Englishman  is  descended  from  Alfred  the  Great : 
as  very  likely  also  from  the  peasant  woman  whose 
cakes  Alfred  is  reputed  to  have  allowed  to  burn. 
Moreover,  there  are  few  if  any  who  do  not  share  the 
blood  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  most  ancestral 
lines,  if  they  could  be  traced,  would  go  back  to  him 
by  a  hundred  different  strains.  In  fact,  there  are 
few  families  in  the  south  and  east  of  England  who 
have  not  more  Norman  blood  than  the  present  royal 
family.  The  house  of  Guelph  holds  the  throne  not 
through  nearness  to  William,  but  through  primo- 
geniture, a  thing  very  different  from  heredity."  The 
appeal  to  records,  supposing  them  to  exist,  in  the 
case  of  any  individual  of  British  extraction  will  pro- 
duce results  in  this  linkage  of  heredity  not  merely 
apparently  paradoxical  but  which  will  establish  the 
unity  of  blood  not  merely  of  nations  but  of  all  the 
individuals  in  any  one  nation  however  removed  they 
may  be  by  artificial  social  distinctions.^ 

Theories  of  Heredity. 
Of  theories  of  heredity,  only  one  at  present  has  any 

1  In  the  case  of  one  family  known  to  the  writer  descent  goes  straight 
back  through  nineteen  generations  to  Alexander  Cleland  of  Cleland  and 
Margaret  Wallace,  an  aunt  of  Sir  William  Wallace,  on  the  one  side,  and 
as  directly  through  the  Stewarts  to  Robert  Bruce  on  the  other  side.  In 
both  instances  the  line  is  traced  through  the  great-grandmother,  and  the 
maternal  great-grandmother  traced  her  descent  from  Bruce  through  the 
genealogy  of  both  father  and  mother. 

199 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

serious  following,  and  already  it  is  evident  how  little 
of  its  earlier  expressed  outline  is  tenable.  Nevertheless, 
with  Weismann's  name  is  associated  a  conception  of 
heredity  that  has  at  least  proved  of  great  service  in 
helping  us  to  think  clearly,  so  far  as  we  may,  upon 
this  intricate  question.^  The  conception  depends 
ultimately  on  the  division  of  the  cells  of  living  organ- 
isms into  the  two  groups,  somatic  cells  and  germ  cells. 
In  the  nuclei  of  the  latter  there  is  hidden  away  a 
mysterious  living  substance,  vastly  more  complicated 
in  molecular  structure  than  protoplasm — the  germ 
plasm  —  which  is  handed  on  from  generation  to 
generation  and  which,  provided  the  appropriate 
nourishment  is  supplied,  grows  in  quantity  though 
remaining  unchanged  in  character.  Uninfluenced  by 
anything  in  its  environment,  it  remains  inviolable  in  the 
body  much  as  the  gold  concealed  in  the  vaults  of  a 
bank.  ]\Iore  particularly  the  theory  involves  these  two 
assumptions:  (i)  the  composition  of  germ  plasm  out 
of  ultimate  units  called  biophors,  which  though  com- 
posed of  several  or  many  molecules  represent  single 
characteristics,  and  are  aggregated  into  determinants 
which  determine  all  the  physical  characteristics  of  the 
individuals  resulting  from  the  development  of  the  germ 
plasm,  for  each  determinant  is  the  an/age  (foundation) 
of  a  particular  cell  or  group  of  cells.  Further,  these 
determinants  occupy  definite  positions  in  the  architecture 
of  vital  units  of  a  third  order  called  ids  ( =  chromatin 
granules),  and  these  in  turn  are  aggregated  into  idants 
which  are  held  to  correspond  to  the  chromosomes. 
(2)  The  second  basal  assumption  is  that  of  germinal 
continuity  from  one  generation  to  another.  The 
germ     plasm     lies    secluded    from     somatic   influence. 

^  The    Germ-Plasm:    a    Theory  of   Heredity   (1893);    The  Evolution 
Theory  (1904). 

200 


HEREDITY 

The  germ  cell  of  one  generation  develops  partly  into 
the  germ  cells  and  partly  into  the  somatic  cells  of 
the  next  generation.  Germ  plasm  is  convertible  into 
somatic  plasm,  but  not  vice  versa. 

Development  on  this  theory,  so  far  as  it  relates  to 
the  body  proper,  is  simply  due  to  the  increase  and 
sifting  apart  through  successive  qualitative  differ- 
entiating divisions  of  the  ids  of  germ  plasm  until  the 
particular  determinants  that  control  a  cell  or  group 
of  cells  have  been  distributed  in  a  definite  and  pre- 
determined    manner     to     their     respective     localities.-^ 


5  tme  of  Succession. 

Line  of 
.....  -  ■ ,  >.Inhe-r»tance 

G 

DIAGRAM  ILLUSTRATING  WEI5MANN5  THEORY  OF  INHERITANCE, 
C   The  germ-cell, which  by  division  give^  rise  to  the  body  or  soma 
fe)anc!  to  new  germ-cells  wSj  which  separate  from  tV»e  soma  and 
repeat  the  process  in  each   successive  generation. 

[Moed'fied      f-rom     h/itson  -] 

Fig.  7. 

With  such  a  qualitative  distribution  the  longitudinal 
splitting  of  the  chromosomes  comes  into  remarkable 
association,  as  being  the  only  method  by  which  such 
an  end  could  be  attained.  In  the  germ  cells,  on  the 
contrary,  growth  and  division  are  accompanied  by 
quantitative  distribution  of  the  germ  plasm,  so  that 
each  germ  cell  contains  identical  hereditary  matter, — 
will,  in  fact,  contain  the  same  characters  as  the 
original  fertilised  germ  cell  or  Qgg:  here  also  the 
phenomena  of  reduction  and  of  fertilisation  fall  into 
line  with  essential  features  in  the  Weismannian  account. 

^  The  biophors  dififer  qualitatively,  and  so  do  their  aggregates. 
201 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

In  Weismann's  words,  "  In  development  a  part  of  the 
germ  plasm  {i.e.  the  essential  germinal  material)  con- 
tained in  the  parent  egg-cell  is  not  used  up  in  the 
construction  of  the  body  of  the  offspring,  but  is  received 
unchanged  for  the  formation  of  the  germ  cells  of  the 
following  generation."  These  cells  in  no  way  con- 
tribute to  the  upbuilding  of  the  body  inside  which 
they  are  maintained.  Each  of  them  is  practically 
identical  in  power  and  character  with  the  original  ^%g, 
because  of  the  method  of  ordinary  division.  They  have 
been  derived  by  direct  descent  from  that  ^^g.,  and 
there  is  therefore  a  sense  in  which  the  child  is  as  old  as 
the  father.  The  second  generation  has,  strictly,  in- 
herited nothing  from  the  first.  It  is  like  it  because 
it  has  developed  from  part  of  the  same  germ  plasm. 
Accordingly,  it  is  obvious  why  children  tend  to  be 
like  their  parents.  The  differences  between  the 
generations  are  due  to  the  fact  that  at  every  creation 
there  is  a  mixing  of  two  germ  plasms  of  different 
ancestral  origin.  The  genetic  variations  arising  in  this 
way  being  inborn  tend  to  reappear  in  succeeding 
generations.  On  the  other  hand,  no  acquired  char- 
acters can  be  transmitted.  External  influences  only 
affect  the  somatic  cells :  such  changes  as  take  place 
there  cannot  be  registered  in  the  germ  cells,  although 
the  latter  may  be  directly  modified  by  influences  {e.g. 
poisons).  It  is  only  the  character  of  the  germ  plasm 
that  determines  the  inheritance  of  the  subsequent 
generations.  The  individual  is  simply  a  trustee  of  the 
germ  substance  for  future  generations :  no  disasters 
which  affect  him,  and  no  favourable  circumstances 
either,  can  alter  the  character  of  the  hereditary  sub- 
stance which  he  transmits  to  the  next  generation. 

Such  a  conclusion,  of  course,  cuts  at  the  root  of  the 
whole  Lamarckian  interpretation    of   evolution,  which 

202 


HEREDITY 

was  based  upon  the  inheritance  of  the  acquired  character, 
the  transmitted  influence  of  use  and  disuse  being  the 
fundamental  law  of  that  doctrine.  Even  Darwin  ad- 
mitted the  part  played  by  the  Lamarckian  factors  in 
descent,  turning  to  them  whenever  Natural  Selection 
was  faced  by  difficulties  it  could  not  solve.  But  if 
Weismann  is  right,  the  Lamarckian  factors  count  for 
nothing.  The  environment  does  not  affect  the  germ 
plasm,  and  cannot  therefore  affect  posterity.  Evolution 
is  simply  an  evolution  of  germ  plasm,  and  only 
incidentally  of  the  individual.  This  necessarily  involves 
Weismann  in  regarding  all  specific  characters  either 
as  useful  or  correlated  with  useful  characters.  He 
further  is  compelled  to  explain  the  seeming  effects  of 
use  and  disuse  either  by  Natural  Selection,  or  by  the 
withdrawal  of  selection  in  the  case  of  non-useful 
characters. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  till  quite  recently  no  very 
satisfactory  evidence  has  been  adduced  of  the  trans- 
missibility  of  acquired  characters.  Ever  since 
Weismann  repeated  the  classical  experiment  of  the 
farmer's  wife  and  found  out  that  the  progeny  of  the 
mutilated  mice  were  born  with  tails,  a  tendency  has 
grown  up  to  relegate  the  evidence  for  the  transmission 
of  acquired  characters  to  the  realms  of  mythology. 
Many  circumstances  which  suggest  such  transmissibility 
are  found  upon  strict  examination  to  break  down.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  change  in  the  offspring 
must  be  strictly  and  definitely  in  the  same  direction  as 
the  original  modification  before  we  can  speak  of  its 
inheritance.  Many  cases  of  what  appear  to  be 
inheritance  of  an  acquired  character  are  probably  not 
so  correctly  interpreted  along  those  lines  as  in  terms  of 
the  inheritance  of  a  certain  degeneracy  of  nature  which 
may  show  itself  in  the  same  particular  way  in  a  child 

203 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

as  in  its  parent,  but  on  the  other  hand  may  express 
itself  in  a  totally  different  manner  in  the  second 
generation.  The  degeneracy  of  nature  thus  handed  on 
would  be  of  course  of  the  nature  of  a  genetic  character 
and  therefore,  ex  hypothesis  heritable.  It  is  not  the 
acquired  character  that  is  inherited,  but  the  innate 
power  of  acquiring  it  is  transmitted.  Then,  again,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  we  must  recognise  the  possibility  of 
concomitant  change  of  the  germ  cells  along  with  the 
somatic  cells.  There  is  here  no  question  of  trans- 
mission, for  the  same  cause  may  produce  very  different 
effects  in  the  two  generations.  Further,  all  the  germ 
cells  might  conceivably  not  be  affected  alike,  and  a 
difference  of  effect  would  be  seen  in  the  various 
members  of  the  second  generation.  This  seems  to  be 
the  interpretation  of  results  got  by  Standfuss  from  the 
experimental  treatment  of  butterflies  and  other  insects, 
e.g.  submitting  them  to  change  of  temperature.  Finally, 
in  the  case  of  the  higher  forms  we  realise  that  all 
characters  are  developed  under  the  action  of  different 
kinds  of  stimuli.  The  difficulty  with  the  Lamarckian 
view  is,  as  Archdall  Reid  has  pointed  out,^  to  see  how 
an  acquired  modification  can  be  transmuted  into  an 
innate  character,  how,  that  is  to  say,  a  character 
developed  in  one  generation  under  the  stimulus  of  use 
can  be  transferred  in  the  second  generation  into  a 
different  category  of  stimuli,  being  now  educed  by 
nutriment,  and  how,  being  so  transferred,  it  still  can 
preserve  its  original  utility.  Nutriment  is  the  funda- 
mental stimulus,  and  under  it  all  genetic  characters 
develop.  But  there  is  no  break,  so  to  speak,  between 
the  modification  and  the  genetic  character.  The  whole 
difference  is  in  the  nature  of  the  stimulus  that  has 
produced  the  modification   or  acquirement,  and  every 

^  Principles  of  Heredity^  p.  19. 
204 


HEREDITY 

modification  is  ultimately  a  modification  of  some  aspect 
of  a  genetic  character.  It  is  due  to  the  superposition 
of  the  play  of  another  stimulus  upon  the  basal  stimulus. 
Nourishment  does  not  cease  to  work  when  use  is  modi- 
fying what  nourishment  has  initially  educed.  The 
potentiality  of  this  modification  of  a  response  is  of 
course  a  genetic  character,  although  the  term  here  is 
vague  compared  e.g.  with  the  potentiality  to  produce  a 
Bourbon  chin.  Many  modifications  are  as  regular  and 
constant  as  genetic  characters  because  the  individuals 
showing  them  experience  identical  stimuli  at  the  same 
stage  of  growth. 

It  might  be  added  that  if  organs  and  structures 
developed  under  use,  then  those  most  used  would 
surely  develop  out  of  all  proportion,  and  those  that 
were  little  used  we  might  suppose  would  degenerate. 
No  organ  is  used  more  than  the  tongue,  but  beyond 
certain  definite  degrees  there  is  no  development  of  it. 
The  history  of  man  shows  a  gradual  replacement  of 
innate  characters  by  modifications,  which  would  not  be 
the  case  if  the  Lamarckian  view  were  the  more  pro- 
found. One  of  the  most  apparently  decisive  cases 
against  transmission  is  furnished  by  the  instincts  of 
social  bees  and  ants.  These,  which  we  might  suppose 
to  be  acquired  adaptations,  are  only  developed  in  the 
workers,  which  do  not  lay  eggs,  whereas  the  trans- 
mission is  through  the  queen  and  drones,  in  which  these 
particular  instincts  are  not  developed. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  becomes  increasingly  clear 
that  Weismann's  conception,  marvellously  as  it  has 
fitted  the  facts  up  to  a  certain  point,  must  be  modified 
considerably  if  it  is  to  hold  its  place.  Thus  there  are 
facts  which  go  to  show  that  this  germ  plasm  is  not 
the  absolutely  stable  substance  that  Weismann  at  least 
originally  maintained  it  to  be.      Even  if  it  were,  how 

205 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

could  it  have  ever  acquired  any  differences  ?  Other 
facts,  such  as  those  of  regeneration  of  lost  parts 
amongst  lower  animals  and  budding  in  plants — even 
the  ability  of  each  of  the  cells  of  the  i6-cell  Echinus 
to  reproduce  a  dwarf  whole — prove  that  the  germ  plasm, 
if  early  segregated  in  the  case  of  higher  animals,  is  not 
necessarily  restricted  to  the  germ  cells  in  the  case  of 
these  humbler  forms.  This  concentration  and  growing 
specialisation  of  cells  seem  to  indicate  the  localisation 
and  concentration  that  are  the  insignia  of  a  higher 
life.  Again,  a  feeling  is  expressed  in  some  quarters 
as  the  result  of  experiment  that  every  obvious  effect 
produced  in  an  organism  may  be  accompanied  by  a 
more  or  less  corresponding,  though  much  slighter, 
effect  upon  the  elements  in  the  germ  plasm,  and 
express  itself  in  the  next  generation  as  an  apparently 
cumulative  effect  of  the  changed  environment ;  or  the 
effects  may  be  totally  invisible  until,  after  generations 
of  exposure  to  the  influences,  the  inherent  stability  of 
the  organism  is  overcome.  Further,  Semon  in  the  last 
edition  of  his  important  work  ^  quotes  in  support  of  his 
mnemic  theory  of  inheritance  some  positive  evidence  of 
transmission  that  weakens  the  uncompromising  attitude 
of  the  Weismannians.  Semon,  whose  ideas  are  akin  to 
those  of  Samuel  Butler  and  Ewald  Hering,^  attempts 
to  explain  the  phenomena  of  inheritance  as  due  to 
a  kind  of  unconscious  memory,  on  the  part  of  the 
developing  organism,  of  the  experiences  of  past  genera- 
tions. Such  a  position  of  course  involves  belief  in  the 
inheritance  of  acquired  characters.  He  assumes  that 
the  germ  cells  like  other  cells  can  respond  to  stimuli 
by  some  definite  alteration    in    their   condition.     The 

^  Die    Mnei7ie    ah   erhaltendcs  Prinzip   im    Wechsel  des    Organischen 
Gesckekens  {^rd  edit.  191 1). 
^  They  are  also  shared  by  Francis  Darwin  in  this  country. 

206 


HEREDITY 

stimuli  to  which  they  respond  are  changes  in  what  he 
calls  the  "  energetic  situation  "  of  the  whole  organism. 
The  stimuli  are  supposed  to  leave  a  sort  of  lasting 
record  of  themselves — a  "  residual  effect  " — upon  the 
germ  cells.  To  this  unified  stimulation-complex  the 
name  of  "  engram  "  is  given.  These  modifications  of 
the  germ  cells  affect  their  development,  "  because  the 
engrams  are  called  forth  in  due  sequence  by  appro- 
priate stimuli  and  express  themselves  in  corresponding 
modifications  of  the  body  of  the  offspring.  The  germ 
cells  are  thus  stored  with  the  latent  '  memories '  of  past 
generations,  and  they  may  contain  many  engrams  that 
may  never  get  the  chance  to  express  themselves  in  any 
particular  individual  ontogeny.  Thus  a  number  of 
alternative  routes  are  open  to  each  individual  at  the 
commencement  of  its  life-history,  and  the  particular 
route  followed  will  depend  upon  the  nature  of  the 
stimuli  which  the  developing  organism  happens  to 
encounter."  ^  On  such  a  view  ontogeny  is  a  mnemic 
phenomenon  ;  it  is  of  the  nature  of  a  habit.  "  Germ 
cells  must,  like  nerve  cells,  contain  engrams,  and  these 
engrams  must  be  (like  nerve-engrams)  bonded  together 
by  association,  so  that  they  come  into  action  one  after 
another  in  a  certain  order  automatically,  i.e.^  in  the 
absence  of  the  original  stimuli."  ^ 

The   most   convincing   data   quoted   by  Semon  are 
those    of    Bordage's     peach    trees  ^    and    Kammerer's 

1  Review  by  A.  Dendy  in  Nature^  vol.  Ixxxviii.  p.  371. 

2  F.  Darwin,  Presidential  Address,  B.A.  Report,  1908,  p.  17. 

^  Op.  cit.  p.  79.  Bordage  found  that  European  peach  trees  grown  in  the 
coastal  region  of  the  tropical  island  of  Reunion  lost  their  deciduous  character 
and  became  almost  completely  evergreen  after  twenty  years.  He  further 
found  that  the  seeds  of  these  modified  peach  trees  produced  young  evergreen 
peach  trees  when  sown  in  another  district  at  an  elevation  of  over  3000  feet, 
where  seeds  of  the  ordinary  peach  tree  produced  the  normal  deciduous 
type  in  its  temperate  climate.  Here  evidently  is  a  clear  case  of  the  trans- 
mission of  a  character  acquired  under  the  influence  of  change  of  climate. 

207 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

experiments  on  the  toad  Alytes  obstetricans.  Semon 
avoids  all  molecular  interpretation  of  the  engrams, 
although  he  localises  them  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively, 
in  the  nuclei  of  the  germ  cells.  Nor  does  he  attempt 
to  explain  how  the  necessary  stimuli  reach  the  germ 
cells,  although  the  fact  is  held  to  be  demonstrated  in 
the  experimental  data  cited.  The  circumstance  that 
as  yet  no  very  acceptable  suggestion  has  been  made 
of  the  mechanism  of  such  transmutation  of  modifica- 
tion into  genetic  character  ^  can  no  longer  blind  us  to 
the  slowly  accumulating  data  which  seem  to  prove 
such  transmutation.  It  certainly  does  not  take  place 
in  every  case;  it  may  often  be  the  work  of  genera- 
tions; but  roundly  to  deny  the  possibility  on  the 
strength  of  an  imposing  but  far  from  invulnerable 
theory  is  not  merely  illogical,  but  is  to  disregard  one 
of  the  best  grounded  generalisations  of  biology — the 
unity  of  the  organism. 

But  especially  has  the  Neo-Weismannian  peace  of 
mind  been  disturbed  by  the  remarkable  rediscovery 
of  the  facts  first  ascertained  by  Gregor  Mendel,  Pralat 
of  the  Konigskloster  in  Briinn,  about  1865.  These  bear 
on  the  heredity  of  hybrids,  and  establish  the  purity  of 
certain  germ  characters.  Mendel's  procedure  was  to  fix 
on  definite  unit  characters  (always  found  in  alternative 
pairs)  and  study  the  manner  of  their  inheritance :  this 
was  found  to  take  place  in  perfectly  distinctive  and 
calculable  ways.  To  take  but  one  example  :  he  crossed 
different  varieties  of  the  edible  pea,  e.g,  the  tall  and 
the  dwarf.  In  the  first  generation  of  this  cross  all 
were  without  exception  tall.  But  in  many  of  these 
the  dwarfness  proved  to  be  latent,  for  in  the  next 
generation,  each    flower   being   self-fertilised,  only   75 

^  See,   however,    A.   Dendy,    Outlines  of   Evohitionary    Biology^    pp. 
185-193. 

208 


HEREDITY 

per  cent,  were  tall,  and  the  remainder  were  pure  dwarf. 
The  next  generation  produced  as  remarkable  results. 
The  dwarfs  bred  true;  but  of  the  75  per  cent, 
of  tall,  only  one-third,  i.e.  25  per  cent.,  bred  true: 
the  remaining  two-thirds  produced  75  per  cent,  of  tall 
and  2  5  per  cent,  of  dwarf      Or  in  diagrammatic  form, 

T  X  D  Parents. 


T(D) 

First  hybrid 
generation. 

T 

T(D) 

1 

T(D) 

D 

Second  hybrid 
generation. 

1    1 

T    T    T    T 

1  1      1 

T  T(D)  T(D) 

1     1 

D       T 

1           1           1 
T(D)  T(D)  D 

\      1      1 
D    D    D    D 

Third  hybrid 

Now,  the  implications  of  these  and  many  other  data 
are  as  follows :  that  in  all  forms  of  life  as  part  of  the 
inheritance  there  are  regular,  well-defined  unit  characters 
existing  in  pairs,  which,  when  the  possessors  are  crossed, 
do  not  blend,  but  appear  the  one  or  the  other  in  the 
next  generations  in  definite  proportions ;  that  one  of 
these  is  dominant  over  the  other,  which  is  there  in  the 
individual  resulting  from  the  zygote,  though  invisible, 
and  that  either  can  be  bred  pure.  Dominance  seems 
to  be  due  to  some  element  which  is  wanting  in  the 
recessive.  Mendel  explained  his  results  by  segrega- 
tion. He  supposed  that  the  germ  cells  of  the  hybrid 
contained  one  or  the  other  of  a  pair  of  alternatives 
(allelomorphs)  but  not  both,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
hybrid  zygote  of  the  first  generation,  and  that  these 
gametes  are  produced  in  equal  numbers.  Offspring 
in  which  similar  individuals  of  a  pair  are  united  will 
breed  true  to  the  character  in  question,  irrespective 
of  their  ancestry.  In  the  case  of  the  edible  pea 
Mendel  found  several  pairs  of  alternative  characters. 
Purple  and  white  flowers,  rounded  and  wrinkled  seeds, 
o  209 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  so  on,  were  proved  to  be  dominant  and  recessive 
respectively.  Now  various  new  pure  combinations  of 
these  allelomorphs  can  be  obtained.  For  by  crossing 
the  tall  purple  with  the  short  white,  we  get  not  merely 
these  forms  in  the  second  generation,  but  also  short 
purple  and  tall  white,  and  by  selecting  the  pure 
individuals,  pure  races  of  the  new  types  can  be 
established.  It  is  as  if  without  altering  the  funda- 
mental character  of  a  building  different  individual 
stones  could  be  substituted  in  the  place  of  others. 
In  some  more  complex  cases,  allelomorphs  of  distinct 
pairs  react  on  one  another  so  as  to  produce  a  linked 
or  grouped  effect  in  the  individuals  possessing  them. 
The  practical  value  of  the  discovery  lies  in  the  fact 
that,  to  take  another  example,  it  is  found  that  in 
wheat,  resistance  and  non-resistance  to  the  attacks 
of  disease,  earliness  and  lateness  of  ripening,  good 
and  bad  milling  quality,  strength  and  weakness  of 
stem,  are  all  pairs  of  Mendelian  alternatives,  and  it 
has  been  found  possible  to  take  a  different  example 
of  these  qualities  from  each  of  these  different  strains 
and  combine  them  together  in  a  single  new  variety 
with  perfect  certainty  in  four  generations.  It  has 
been  found  possible  by  crossing  immune  and  non- 
immune strains  to  obtain  a  pure  rust-free  wheat  in  three 
generations,  thus  answering  the  old  question,  "  Who  can 
bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean  ?  "  and  answer- 
ing it  differently  from  Job.  The  Mendelian  formula 
may  thus  be  applied  to  the  individual  with  definite 
prediction  :  the  statistical  study  of  heredity  bears  only 
on  the  group.  The  former  is  practical ;  the  latter  is 
theoretic.  The  conflict  with  Weismannism  lies  in  this, 
that  while  the  latter  assumes  that  the  characters  of 
members  of  any  ancestral  generation  may  be  equally 
represented    in    each    germ    cell    of    the    descendant, 

210 


HEREDITY 

Mendel's  experiments  show  that  while  all  essential 
characters  are  represented  in  every  germ  cell,  yet  the 
distinctive  Mendelian  characters  are  represented  by  a 
paternal  or  a  maternal  determinant  only,  and  not  by 
both.  Still  less,  then,  are  all  immediate  ancestors 
probably  represented  in  the  germ  cells  in  respect  of 
any  particular  character. 

Again,  Darwin's  idea  of  evolution  supposed  that  it 
was  achieved  by  the  continuous  and  gradual  altera- 
tion of  the  specific  mean  through  the  selection  of 
fluctuating  variations.  This  is  the  view  of  the  biometri- 
cian,  in  part  conditioned  by  his  method.  He  deals 
with  great  numbers  of  individuals ;  he  notes  the  con- 
tinued tendency  of  offspring  to  regress  towards  the 
mean.  His  biggest  variations  are  not  isolated,  being 
linked  with  others  by  intermediate  degrees.  The 
Mendelian  does  not  deny  the  existence  of  those 
normal  fluctuating  variations ;  but  he  insists  that  they 
are  useless  to  evolution.  They  tend  to  return  to  the 
mean  so  strongly  in  succeeding  generations  that  they 
cannot,  under  any  degree  of  stringency,  serve  as 
elements  of  permanent  racial  divergence.  And  he 
thinks  that  evolution  proceeds  by  the  selection  of  the 
non-blending  discontinuous  stable  variation  :  these  are 
the  characters  he  is  likely  to  notice,  for  he  works  with 
individuals  rather  than  with  aggregates.  Some  of  the 
offspring  will  show  this  discontinuous  variation  :  others 
will  not.  If  it  is  favourable,  it  will  be  preserved  :  if  it 
is  not,  it  will  be  lost. 

Obviously  the  question  as  to  what  extent  characters 
of  parents  do  or  do  not  blend  in  offspring  or  may  be 
found  with  the  distinctive  Mendelian  relations  is  one 
which  can  only  be  decided  by  observation  and  experi- 
ment. Criticism  of  these  relations  cannot  obliterate 
the    basal    facts.      It   is   assuredly   the    case    that    no 

211 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

one  of  these  features  is  absolute.  Dominance  is 
sometimes  incomplete :  the  influence  of  the  recessive 
shows  itself  in  greater  or  less  degree.  Sometimes  a 
common  ancestral  form  appears  in  place  of  either 
dominant  or  recessive.  In  the  words  of  the  First 
Report  to  the  Evolution  Committee  of  the  Royal 
Society,^  "  Dominance  is  a  phenomenon  presenting 
various  degrees  of  intensity ; "  or,  in  Davenport's  words, 
"  It  is  a  matter  of  degree,  not  of  kind."  The  hypothesis 
is  useful  though  unverifiable  that  Mendelian  characters 
are  represented  by  units  in  the  germ  plasm, — itself 
an  assumption.  Nevertheless,  the  heredity  of  many 
characters  in  many  species  of  animals  and  plants  is 
found  to  be  intelligible  from  Mendel's  point  of 
view. 

How  far  the  Mendelian  law  applies  to  man  is  a 
question  to  which  as  yet  an  answer  is  not  forthcoming. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  practical  study  of  human  heredity 
must  offer  difficulties  that  are  peculiar  to  the  case. 
Human  families  are  not  large  as  a  rule,  and  cannot  be 
the  subject  of  experiment ;  four  generations  require  a 
century,  and  records  are  rarely  preserved  with  care. 
Further,  it  is  extremely  probable  that,  owing  to  the 
long  line  of  ancestry  that  leads  up  to  man,  human 
characters  are  very  subtle  complexes  which  will  require 
much  disarticulation  before  we  understand  the  unit 
characters  out  of  which  they  are  built,  and  it  is 
these  unit  characters  whose  behaviour  is  expressible 
in  terms  of  the  Mendelian  law.  The  Mendelian 
formula  is  as  yet  inapplicable  to  the  inheritance  of 
mental  traits  precisely  because  the  psychologist  has 
not  yet  enabled  us  to  analyse  even  the  simplest 
psychical  characters  into  their  fundamental  units.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  a  rough  general  way  we  have  the 

-  By  Miss  Saunders  and  W.  Bateson,  1902,  p.  126. 
212 


HEREDITY 

data  of  generations  as  we  have  them  in  the  case  of  no 
other   creature,  and    it    is    already  clear    that    certain 
characters  do  conform  to  a  Mendelian  interpretation  of 
their  transmissibility.      If  blending  is  indeed  the  rule 
in  human  inheritance,  a  blending  that  is  more  rather 
than  less  permanent,  if  the  features  that  most  markedly 
follow    Mendel's    law    are     abnormalities    rather    than 
normalities,    perhaps     this     very    circumstance    should 
awaken  us  to  the  possibility  of  practical  treatment  of 
them.     Of   normal  characters,  eye-colour    has    so   far 
provided  the  best  demonstration.      It  is  probable  that 
"  the  complexity  of   the    transmission    of   the  various 
colour-characters,"  ^  e.g.  eye  and  hair,  is  greater  in  the 
case  of  our  mixed  Western  European  populations  than 
it  is  amongst  plants  and  lower  animals.      The  presence 
of  pigment  on  the  front  of  the  iris  gives  us  brown  or 
black  eyes :    its  absence   produces   blue  or  grey  eyes. 
The    results  of    Hurst's  investigations  on  the  parents 
and    children  of   a    Leicestershire  village  go   to  show 
that  brown  eyes  are  dominant  to  blue  eyes.     Again, 
"  the  segregation  of  red  hair  from  black  hair  may  be 
seen  in   many  families,  and  this  red  is  presumably  a 
recessive."  ^      In  the  case  of  disease  and  malformations 
a  close  study  of  their  transmission  has  been  undertaken 
along  these  lines,  and  the  indications  so  far  are  that  in 
the    majority    of    instances    the    abnormal    feature    is 
dominant  to  the  normal.      Brachydactyly  and  cataract, 
to    take  but  two    examples,  prove    themselves    trans- 
missible in  the  proportions  expected.      Albinism  and 
one  or  two  rarer  pathological  conditions  prove  them- 
selves recessive.     As  yet  we  do  not  know  if  immunity 
to  specific  diseases  follows  Mendelian  lines,  although  it 
becomes  increasingly  evident  that  such  immunity  has 

^  W.  Bateson's  MeyideVs  Principles  of  Heredity,  p.  205. 
2  Op.  cit.  p.  206. 

213 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

been  a  very  real  element  in  human  evolution.  The 
recessive  character  is  distinguishable  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  observed  in  the  children  of  parents  who  are 
without  it,  and  particularly  in  the  offspring  of  con- 
sanguineous marriages.  Further,  it  becomes  increas- 
ingly probable  that  the  dominant  condition  is  due  to 
the  presence  of  some  element  added  to  the  normal 
composition  of  the  body,  while  the  recessive  type  of 
disease  is  due  to  the  absence  of  some  element  that  we 
may  expect  in  the  normal  body.  Finally,  this  dis- 
cussion of  the  dominant  and  recessive  characters  of 
specific  diseases  will  banish  any  preconceived  associa- 
tion of  dominant  characters  with  qualities  that  from 
another  point  of  view  we  may  consider  "  good."  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  know  that  in  wheat  resistance  to 
rust  disease  is  a  recessive :  that  is  to  say,  the  good  has 
to  be  won  from  the  evil,  and  the  condition  of  its 
existence  probably  consists  in  the  absence  of  some 
element  found  in  ordinary  wheats  whose  presence 
renders  them  an  easy  prey  to  the  rust-fungus. 

Of  the  typical  Mendelian  phenomenon  there  is  no 
doubt.  It  is  a  verifiable  account  of  what  takes  place 
as  the  result  of  the  hybridisation  or  crossing  of  forms 
at  some  stage  or  other  in  the  ancestral  history. 
Further,  the  results  square  with  Weismann's  architec- 
tonic conception  of  the  germ  plasm,  while  segregation 
fits  in  with  the  distinctive  evolutions  of  the  reducing 
division.  On  the  other  hand,  the  occasional  imperfect 
dominance  exhibited,  or  the  admitted  difficulty  of 
elucidating  certain  results  in  a  strict  Mendelian 
sequence,  may  very  easily  be  due  to  the  unrealised 
degree  of  complexity  of  the  inheritance,  and  to  the 
fact  that  the  dominance  of  one  of  a  pair  of  characters 
may  be  linked  with  the  presence  or  absence  of  a 
constituent  of  some  other  pair.     What  is  apparent  is 

214 


HEREDITY 

a    realm    of   order    in    these    deepest   aspects    of    the 
continuity  of  life. 

Inheritance  of  Mental  Characters. 

To  leave  physical  characters  and  pass  to  the  general 
consideration  of  the  inheritance  of  mental  and  moral 
features  is  to  enter  a  field  where  qualitative  rather  than 
quantitative  tests  must  ultimately  prevail.  Never- 
theless, as  far  back  as  1869  Galton  in  his  work 
Hereditary  Genius  showed  that  within  a  certain 
range  the  quantitative  test  produced  results.  Later, 
Karl  Pearson  applying  the  statistical  methods  used  in 
calculating  the  inheritance  of  physical  characters  to 
data  furnished  by  school  teachers'  reports  on  such 
characters  as  popularity,  vivacity,  ability,  and  hand- 
writing in  their  scholars,^  maintained  that  "  the  degree 
of  resemblance  of  the  physical  and  mental  characters 
of  children  is  one  and  the  same,"  or  more  concretely, 
"  we  inherit  our  parents'  temper,  our  parents'  con- 
scientiousness, shyness,  and  ability  as  we  inherit  their 
stature,  forearm,  and  span."  With  regard  to  Pearson's 
particular  method  of  argumentation  it  should  however 
be  noticed,  that  because  certain  characters  appear  in 
certain  similar  proportions  it  does  not  necessarily 
follow  that  they  are  both  "  innate."  There  are  other 
characters  in  which  presumably  similar  degrees  of 
likeness  could  be  shown,  e.g.  ability  to  speak  or  write 
the  English  language,  which  are  obviously  acquirements 
and  not  innate.  Pearson  can  show  the  degrees  in  which 
certain  definite  characters  are  reproduced  under  certain 
definite  conditions,  but  he  offers  us  no  criterion  by  which 
to  decide  whether  characters  are  innate  or  acquired. 

^  *'  On  the  Inheritance  of  the  Mental  and  Moral  Characters  in  Man,  and 
its  Comparison  with  the  Inheritance  of  the  Physical  Characters"  (Huxley 
Lecture  for  igo^,  Journal  Anthropologicallnstitute,  vol.  xxxii.  pp.  179-237). 

215 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

The  fundamental  similarities  in  racial,  national,  and 
even   occupational   mental   character,  the   universal   re- 
emergence  of  primitive  instincts,  feelings,  and  specific 
responses  to   stimuli,  seem    to   point  in  the  direction 
of  some    degree    of   inheritance   in   the   lower  reaches 
of  mentality.      Possibly  the  initiatives  of  moral  char- 
acter   are    transmissible    just    as    physical    tendencies 
are:  temperament,  emotional  nature,  strength  of  will, 
judgment   may  all   be    in    great   measure    hereditarily 
determined.      What  we    must    recognise  is  that  phy- 
sical characters  are  almost  entirely  fixed  by  heredity  : 
in    modification   of  them   man  cannot  do   very  much. 
They  are  genetic  and  transmissible,  and  improvement 
is    appallingly  slow.      In  the   case    of   certain    grades 
of  mental  characteristic   the  same   holds  true,  but  as 
we    rise    in    the    scale    of   those    mental,    moral,   and 
spiritual  features  that  are  most  distinctive  of  man,  we 
realise  that   increasingly    they    are    of   the    nature  of 
acquirements.      The    distinction    between    the    genetic 
character    and  the  acquired  character  or  modification 
thus  comes  to  be  peculiarly  important  in  the  case  of 
man.     Consciousness  and  the  power  of  memory  which 
stores   the    impressions    of   consciousness    are    genetic 
characters,  as  also  the  power  of  thought,  which  is  so 
intimately  associated  with  the  other  two :  their  stores 
are  all  acquirements.      Man  has  few  instincts  and  they 
are  limited  to  the  earlier  phases  of  his  life,  so  we  have 
the  long  helpless  period  of  infancy  when  the  power  of 
acquiring  is  slowly  maturing,  and  developing  behind  a 
few  protective  instincts.      All  the  rest  of  his  mental  and 
spiritual  life  is  of  the  nature  of  acquirement ;  in  fact,  the 
ability  to  make  acquirements  is  a  distinguishing  feature 
of  man.     He  is,  as  Shaler  long  ago  remarked,  essentially 
the  "  educable  "  animal.     On  the  other  hand,  the  whole 
life  of  many  animals  is  instinctive  in  activity :   all  their 

216 


HEREDITY 

characters  are  inborn.  There  are  none  of  those  modi- 
fications that  arise  as  the  result  of  consciousness.  As 
we  ascend  in  the  animal  scale,  the  growing  feature  is 
the  increasing  power  of  devising  and  making  acquire- 
ments. The  more  instinctive  the  life,  the  more  is  it  a 
uniformity  from  beginning  to  end  :  the  insect  is  practi- 
cally as  clever  on  its  birthday  as  on  the  day  of  its 
death.  The  less  instinctive  the  life,  the  more  guided 
by  intelligence,  the  less  of  a  uniformity  is  it,  and  the 
more  of  a  progressive  growth.  Social  customs,  morality, 
religion  are  the  result  of  nurture,  and  in  those  spheres 
the  environment  has  the  determining  and  final  word. 


217 


CHAPTER    IX 

SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

In  the  case  of  man  it  is  obvious  that  questions  of 
Heredity  and  of  the  influence  of  Natural  Selection 
take  on  a  somewhat  different  guise  from  that  which 
they  wear  in  the  case  of  humbler  forms  of  life.  Not 
merely  is  there  little  of  the  struggle  for  existence  in 
its  life-and-death  aspect  amongst  the  human  races  of 
to-day,  but  we  become  at  once  aware  of  numerous 
ways  in  which  man  in  virtue  of  his  educability  and 
mental  plasticity  can  modify  and  in  part  create  some 
of  the  elements  in  his  environment,  so  that  Natural 
Selection,  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  is  gradually  being 
replaced  by  Rational  Selection.^  Every  stage  in  the 
evolution  of  forms  below  man  bears  a  direct  and 
constant  relation  to  the  physical  environment  mainly. 
In  the  case  of  man  a  distinction  has  arisen  whereby 
the  strictly  biological  aspects  of  human  evolution, 
directly  related  to  the  physical  environment  as  with 
the  lower  forms,  have  not  stood  in  any  close  association 
with  that  social  evolution  that  has  been  so  marked  a 
feature  of  mankind.  His  ability  to  preserve  and  make 
use  of  the  social  experience  of  the  past  has  led  to  a 
certain  disparity  of  advance  between  his  social  evolution 
and  that  biological   evolution   which   means  change  in 

^  A  great  though  not  permanent  exception,  however,  still  remains  in  the 
case  of  zymotic  disease. 

2l8 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

innate  character.  Progress  in  the  former  sphere  is 
obvious  :  in  the  latter  it  is  hard  to  demonstrate.  Even 
such  an  old  type  of  Natural  Selection  as  war,  in  killing 
off  the  biologically  fit,  and  in  time  of  peace  giving  an 
advantage  economically  to  the  physically  defective, 
operates  in  a  method  precisely  the  reverse  of  that 
which  underlay  its  practice  in  earlier  stages  of 
civilisation. 

Hitherto    man's    interference    with    the  factors  that 
operate  in  the  biological  evolution  of  the  race,  such  as 
natural  selection,  sexual  selection,  isolation,  and  so  on, 
has  had  no  direct  relation   to  the  factors  operating  to 
bring  about  social  evolution.      The  time  is  approach- 
ing, however,  when  these  two   aspects  will   be  kept  in 
constant  conscious  association.      A  variety  of  circum- 
stances   is    combining  to  quicken  reflection   upon   the 
kind  of  use  that  is  being  made  by  man   of  his  power 
of  consciously   modifying  in   part   his    own    evolution. 
The  issue  is  raised  in  connection  with  modern  methods 
of  procedure  in  the  production   of  national  efficiency, 
about  which  it  may  be  fairly  questioned  whether  they 
are    not    producing    results    that    may    ultimately    be 
nothing  less  than  disastrous.      Inquiry  arises  on   many 
sides    as    to    whether  the  particular  modern   trend  of 
social     progress     is     really     progressive     and    tending 
towards  a  biological  improvement  of  the  race.      In  the 
strictly  scientific    use    of   the    term    the    struggle    for 
existence    results  in  the  survival  and  reproduction  of 
certain  fittest  forms :  whatever  content  there  is  in  this 
fitness,  it  is  something  physical.      In  the  case  of  the 
human  species  there  is,  however,  little  struggle  in  this 
sense,  as    we    have    seen ;  indeed,  it    is    the    physical 
unfitness  in  the  form  of  "  national  degeneracy  "  that  at 
once  arrests   attention   in   connection   with  this  easing 
up  of  the  struggle.      History  has  already  compelled  the 

219 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

question  why  imperial  races  rather  than  their  con- 
quered subjects  have  ultimately  degenerated — why  it 
is  that  nothing /^//i-  like  success?  The  problem  to  be 
considered  is  whether  the  particular  lessening  of  the 
stringency  of  selection  is  compensated  for  by  the 
undoubted  greater  fitness  of  social  life  and  institutions, 
into  which  channel  the  force  of  evolution  is  being 
directed  by  man  himself. 

It  may  be  considered  first  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  present  declining  birth-rate,  to  which  Karl  Pearson  ^ 
and  others  ^  have  lately  called  attention.  The  total 
number  of  births  registered  in  1910  in  England  and 
Wales  was  896,962,  equal  to  25-1  per  1000.  This  is 
no  less  than  2*5  per  1000  below  the  average  in  the 
preceding  decennium,  and  0*7  below  the  rate  in  1909: 
in  1876  the  births  were  equal  to  36'3  per  1000.  The 
Registrar-General's  report  indicates  further  that  the 
trend  of  the  birth-rate  is  still  downwards,  the  provisional 
rate  for  191  i  being  yet  lower,  viz.  24*4  per  1 000. 
Nor  is  the  decline  confined  to  the  mother  country. 
In  thirty  years  the  birth-rate  in  Australia  has  fallen 
from  3  5*2  to  267  per  1000,  and  in  New  Zealand  from 
36*3  to  26*2.  A  phenomenon,  therefore,  which  has 
hitherto  been  prominent  in  France  confronts  whole 
English-speaking  portions  of  the  empire.  If  the 
diminution  of  the  birth-rate  could  be  shown  to  prevail 
among  the  unfit,  the  phenomenon  might  be  viewed 
without  apprehension :  it  might  even  be  welcomed  in 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  noble  and  self-denying 
ideals.  Statistics,  however,  prove  conclusively  that  the 
decline  is  most  marked  in  the  middle  and  professional 
classes,  where  the  intelligence  and  physical  ability  of 
the  nation  are  to  the  greatest  extent  segregated.     As 

^  Cf.  National  Life  from  the  Standpoint  of  Science. 

^  e.g.  the  Bishop  of  Ripon  at  the  Anglican  Church  Congress  in  1910. 

220 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

a  result  these  are  being  steadily  recruited  from  the 
lower  and  less  intelligent  strata  of  society,  or  to  put  it 
in  other  words,  there  is  a  gradual  breeding  out  of 
intelligence.  If  present  tendencies  continue,  the  pro- 
portion of  the  fit  to  the  unfit  will  steadily  decline. 
Further  careful  statistics  show  that  the  birth-rates  in 
the  various  districts  of  our  cities  are  in  inverse  ratio  to 
their  wealth,  that,  over  all,  the  upper  classes  tend  to 
marry  later  in  life  with  decreasing  fertility,  and  that 
the  population  tends  to  be  recruited  chiefly  from 
the  earlier  marrying  so-called  lower  strata  of  society. 

It  is  also  noteworthy  that  the  decline  of  the  birth- 
rate in  the  British  Empire  synchronises  with  an 
increase  in  the  birth-rate  in  the  East.  The  remarkable 
emigration  from  China  to  various  localities  suggests  a 
pressure  due  to  over-multiplication  which  can  only  be 
roughly  estimated  in  the  case  of  that  tremendous 
population.  In  the  twenty-three  years  between  1886 
and  1909,  when  the  birth-rate  in  the  L^nited  Kingdom 
fell  from  3  1*4  to  25*8,  the  birth-rate  in  Japan  rose  from 
28*5  to  34'2 — her  rise  being  greater  than  our  fall. 
From  the  same  date  to  19 10  Ceylon  shows  an  increase 
from  30*3  to  39.  "  It  is  not  going  too  far,"  says  the 
Bishop  of  Ripon,  "  to  say  that  while  the  populations 
which  claim  Western  civilisation  show  signs  of  diminished 
fertility,  the  East  is  growing  in  consciousness  of  strength, 
in  alertness  of  perception,  in  supple  power  of  adaptation, 
in  vigour,  self-denial,  and  numbers.  Are  we  witnessing 
the  decline  of  the  West  and  the  rise  of  the  East  ?  Are 
the  nations  that  have  been  entrusted  with  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  Christian  faith  refusing  their  inheritance, 
and  by  an  inexplicable  race  suicide  surrendering  the 
sceptre  to  the  East  ?  "  ^ 

Again,  of  undesirable  variations  from  the  racial  mean 

^  Report  of  the  Chzirch  Congress,  1910,  p.  166, 
221 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

fraught  with  serious  consequence  none  are  more  deadly 
than  insanity  and  feeble-mindedness  ;  yet  man's  inter- 
ference with  his  own  evolution,  however  questionably 
successful  in  other  directions,  has  not  been  exercised  in 
any  suitable  degree  in  the  worthy  and  practicable  aim 
of  checking  such  tainted  streams  as  have  flowed  con- 
tinuously for  several  generations.  Mental  disease  is 
undoubtedly  increasing  at  a  rate  which  is  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  population.  It  is 
hereditary  ;  indeed,  its  only  true  treatment  is  prevention. 
From  evidence  given  before  the  Royal  Commission  on 
the  Care  and  Control  of  the  Feeble-minded  (1904)  we 
learn  that  in  England  and  Wales  271,607  persons  may 
be  considered  as  suffering  from  mental  defect,  of  whom, 
apart  from  the  certified  lunatic,  150,000  are  not  sane 
but  are  not  certifiable,  while  66,500  urgently  need 
proper  supervision.^  Of  the  inmates  of  the  Poor  Law 
institutions,  excluding  pauper  lunatics,  from  i  2  to  18 
per  cent,  are  mentally  defective,  and  in  the  prisons 
there  are  to  be  found  every  day  from  3000  to  4000 
defectives.  Evidently,  then,  we  have  a  great  mass  of 
mental  degeneracy  which  when  it  is  not  living  at  the 
cost  of  the  tax-payer  in  workhouse  or  in  prison,  or 
being  supported  by  charity ,2  is  wandering  about  the 
community,  idling  and  working  mischief,  or  settling 
down  and  reproducing   its    kind    at    abnormal    rates.^ 

^  According  to  the  latest  returns  the  number  of  certified  insane  persons 
under  care  in  England  and  Wales  on  ist  January  1912  was  135,661,  or 
2504  more  than  in  the  previous  year.  The  ratio  of  insane  individuals  to 
the  population  has  increased  during  the  last  fifty-three  years  by  98*8  per 
cent.,  till  now  the  proportion  is  i  in  269. 

^  The  annual  cost  of  maintenance  of  mentally  defective  children,  paupers, 
and  prisoners  amounts  to  about  £6^^,000.  Under  the  recommendations 
of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Care  and  Control  of  the  Feeble-minded, 
this  figure  would  be  raised  to  ;^i,  175,000. 

^  The  average  normal  family  (parents  excluded)  is  four  :  in  the  degenerate 
family  the  average  number  of  children  born  is  eight. 

222 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

As  a  part  result  we  find  in  the  elementary  schools 
35,662  mentally  defective  children,  of  whom  some  50 
per  cent,  will  never  be  able  to  earn  their  own  living. 
Into  the  causation  of  this  increase  in  mental  degeneracy, 
apart  from  genetic  strains,  several  factors  enter — 
alcoholism,  general  progressive  paralysis  with  all  that 
its  etiology  implies,  and  the  pressure  of  economic  life. 

A  third  feature  with  disquieting  implications  is  the 
complacent  perpetuation  of  certain  criminal  strains 
that  in  their  persistency  almost  seem  analogous  to  a 
Mendelian  extracted  pure  character.  Some  of  these  are 
very  closely  connected  with  the  condition  previously 
examined.  Probably  the  best  known  instance  is  R.  A. 
Dugdale's  study  of  "  The  Jukes."  This  he  began  in 
1874  as  a  New  York  State  Prison  Commissioner. 
"  The  Jukes "  is  the  name  given  by  him  to  a  large 
group  of  degenerates.  It  is  not  the  real  name  of  any 
family,  but  a  generic  term  applied  to  42  different 
families,  whose  inter-relationships  were  made  the  sub- 
ject of  investigation.  The  word  "juke"  means  to 
roost,  and  is  used  by  Dugdale  to  designate  the 
members  of  this  tribe  of  Ishmael  who  failed  to  rear 
good  homes,  or  provide  themselves  with  the  neces- 
saries of  life  by  honest,  steady  work.  Dugdale,  in 
the  course  of  his  prison  investigations,  was  surprised 
to  find  six  criminals  in  one  prison  who,  though  under 
four  family  names,  proved  to  be  blood  relations  in 
different  degrees.  Accordingly  he  set  to  work  to  un- 
ravel the  history  of  the  tribe.  He  traced  it  back,  on 
the  one  side,  to  an  individual  he  calls  "  Max,"  born 
between  1720  and  1740  of  Dutch  stock,  who  lived  a 
kind  of  backwoodsman's  life  in  a  lake  district  of  New 
York  State,  but  was  essentially  an  easy-going,  dissolute 
man.  The  starting-point  on  the  other  side  is  furnished 
by  a  group  of  six  women,  sisters  in  some  degree,  two 

223 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

of  whom  married  two  of  Max's  many  sons.  Dugdale 
learned  details  of  834  descendants  of  seven  of  this 
group  through  as  many  generations,  and  with  collateral 
lines  traced  the  history  of  i  200  "  Jukes."  The  almost 
universal  traits  of  the  tribe  were  idleness,  ignorance, 
and  poverty,  all  combined  with  great  vitality.  Their 
refusal  to  work  or  to  study  led  to  disease  and  dis- 
grace, to  pauperism  and  crime,  to  feeble-mindedness 
and  insanity.  Nor  did  their  crimes  or  their  pauperism 
show  any  redeeming  feature :  it  was  all  sordid,  with 
nothing  heroic,  clever,  or  honourable.  So  far  from 
contributing  to  the  world's  prosperity,  they  cost  the 
State  more  than  1000  dollars  apiece  in  seventy-five 
years,  including  men,  women,  and  children.  Those 
who  worked  did  the  most  menial  labour,  commanding 
the  poorest  wages.  Of  the  total  number  of  men,  not 
20  were  skilled  workmen,  and  10  of  those  learned 
their  trades  in  the  State  Prison.  None  of  them  was 
regularly  employed,  and  the  study  of  this  tribal  indol- 
ence and  inability  to  persist  in  any  task  owing  to  .^lack 
of  discipline  and  education,  indicates  that  it  is  easier 
to  reform  a  criminal  than  a  pauper.  Of  the  1 200, 
some  300  died  in  infancy  from  lack  of  proper  care 
and  favourable  conditions.  Of  the  remainder,  280 
were  professional  paupers  who  lived  in  poorhouses  or 
their  equivalent  for  2300  years.  More  than  50  per 
cent,  of  the  women  led  lives  of  notorious  debauchery ; 
440  men  and  women  were  physically  wrecked  in 
early  life  by  their  own  wickedness ;  60  were  habitual 
thieves;  140  were  convicted  criminals,  and  7  were 
murderers.  These  summed  results  arrest  attention,  but 
even  more  impressive  is  the  detailed  study  of  the  several 
family  lines,  generation  after  generation,  which  brings 
out  a  tendency  to  the  segregation  of  licentiousness, 
criminality,  and  pauperism  in  the  different  strains.     Of 

224 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

a  similar  character,  and  with  still  more  detail,  is  Jorger's 
unravelling  of  the  Swiss  family  "  Zero."  -^ 

These  may  appear  extreme  cases,  but  in  a  paper 
read  at  the  Church  Congress  in  1910,^  Mrs.  Pinsent  of 
Birmingham  cited  several  cases  of  mentally  defective 
families  in  which  mental  defect  and  criminal  propen- 
sities could  be  traced  through  three  or  four  generations. 
The  cost  of  such  families  to  the  community,  she  pointed 
out,  was  very  large.  Fourteen  individuals  out  of 
nineteen  in  the  third  generation  of  one  family  with 
only  a  single  normal  representative  had  been  supported 
at  public  expense  in  industrial  schools,  prisons,  re- 
formatories, asylums,  workhouses,  and  homes.  Five 
publicly  paid  officials  were  constantly  visiting  one 
other  family,  where  a  mentally  deficient  mother  had 
borne  ten  children,  four  of  whom  were  mentally 
defective  and  two  physically  defective,  while  three 
died  in  infancy.  The  whole  of  the  time  and  money 
spent  on  improving  the  environment  of  this  family 
was  wasted,  for  in  spite  of  the  united  efforts  of  these 
five  officials  not  one  of  these  children  could  possibly 
become  a  useful  citizen.  The  training  and  support 
of  these  degenerate  families  ultimately  falls  so  heavily 
on  the  efficient  members  of  a  community  that  they 
are  sometimes  led  to  limit  the  number  of  their  children 
and  also  the  educational  opportunities  they  could 
afford  them,  thereby  impairing  their  usefulness. 

By  way  of  contrast  the  story  of  Jonathan  Edwards' 
descendants  may  be  set  down.^  The  great  American 
divine  was  born  in  1703.  He  had  eleven  children, 
and  a  study  has  been  made  of  1400  of  his  descendants, 

^  Archiv.  fiir  Rassen  und  Geselhchafts  Biologie,  Berlin,  1905,  ii.  pp. 
494-559- 
^  Report  of  the  Church  Congress,  p.  151. 
^  A.  E.  Winship,  Jukes-Edwards,  chap.  ii. 
P  225 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

which  includes  those  men  who  have  married  into  the 
family.  Of  these,  amongst  the  men  alone — and  the 
record  is  not  so  complete  as  in  the  case  of  the  Jukes — 
285  were  college  graduates,  including  13  presidents 
of  universities  and  colleges,  65  professors,  and  many- 
principals  of  important  academies  and  seminaries. 
Every  department  of  learning  and  human  activity  in 
the  United  States  has  been  adorned  by  men  of  dis- 
tinction belonging  to  that  family,  while  there  was  not  a 
single  criminal  or  pauper  amongst  them  to  stain  the 
family  name.^  At  every  point  the  contrast  with  the  Jukes 
is  very  striking,  and  again  suggests  the  analogy  of  an 
extracted  Mendelian  pure  character.  Further  contrasts 
in  inheritance  of  ability,  musical,  religious,  scientific, 
and  criminal,  may  be  found  in  various  classical  studies. 
Another  criterion  whereby  the  efficiency  of  man's 
interference  with  his  evolution  may  be  gauged  is  found 
in  the  growing  increase  in  the  rate  of  suicide.  The 
isolated  accounts  of  suicide  in  the  newspapers  lead 
us  to  think  of  it  as  an  individual  affection.  This  is 
very  far  from  being  the  case :  indeed,  in  some  morbid 
conditions,  e.g.  amongst  Russian  political  prisoners,  it 
has  sometimes  become  epidemic.  Further,  the  tend- 
ency shows  a  marked  increase  not  merely  in  Great 
Britain, — where  for  England  and  Wales  the  Registrar- 
General  in  his  Annual  Report  for  19 10  gives  figures 
that  show  an  increase  of  from  86  to  100  per  million 
during  1891  — 1910, — but  in  most  countries  of  Europe. 
In  St.  Petersburg,  a  city  whose  population  including 
that  of  the  suburbs  was  1,927,000  people  in  1909, 
there  were  1432  cases  of  suicide,  a  figure  which  shows 
a  marked  increase  on  that  of  any  year  in  the  previous 
decade. 

^  The  name  of  Aaron  Burr  may  occur  to  some  as  an  exception  ;  if  so,  he 
is  a  remarkable  exception  wherewith  to  prove  the  rule. 

226 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

When  we  attempt  to  elucidate  the  causation  of 
suicide,  the  common  but  often  unreasoned  association 
with  insanity  by  coroners'  juries  may  easily  lead  us 
very  far  astray,  as  the  following  human  document 
from  the  pen  of  a  Russian  student  will  show.  "  Fancy 
you  see  before  yourself  a  man  who  is  ill  with  an 
incurable  illness — tuberculosis.  He  is  at  present  not 
more  than  twenty-one  years  of  age :  in  four  years  this 
man  will  not  be  on  earth  any  more.  The  thought  of 
the  inevitable  death  causes  such  experiences  for  the 
depiction  of  which  there  are  no  expressions  in  our 
language.  This  thought  poisons  the  remnant  of  life 
which  remains  to  him.  I  do  not  now  speak  of 
physical  sufferings.  Would  it  not  be  better  for  such 
a  man  to  deliver  himself  and  others  from  such  an 
existence  on  earth?  Logic  says  the  following:  (i) 
That  the  earth  is  too  small  for  humanity:  if  some  did 
not  die,  others  would  not  have  room  or  means  for 
existence.  (2)  If  God  exists,  then  maybe  on  the 
other  shore  a  man  will  get  something  better  than 
sleepless  nights  and  an  endless  deadly  craving.  (3)  If 
God  does  not  exist,  and  if  death  is  only  a  return  to 
the  condition  in  which  a  man  was  before  his  birth, 
then  it  is  better  at  once  to  be  delivered  from  all  this 
torment.  HCN  (prussic  acid)  kills  instantaneously  and 
without  suffering :  true,  the  rest  is  silence,  but  better 
eternal  silence  than  four  years  of  inquisition.  I 
greatly  beg  you  to  answer,  because  this  question  is 
from  one  of  those  whom  you  see  before  you,  a  question 
of  the  present  day,  a  question  of  life  and  death.  I 
have  courage  to  do  away  with  myself,  but  I  would 
wish  to  act  in  accordance  with  higher  truth." 

If  there  were  a  regular  direct  connection  between 
insanity  and  suicide  we  should  expect  that  the  sex 
and  country  with  the  highest  insanity  records  would 

227 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

show  the  heaviest  suicide-rate.  This,  however,  is  very- 
far  from  being  the  case.  Statistics  show  that  while 
insanity  is  on  the  whole  slightly  more  prevalent 
amongst  women  than  amongst  men  (although  the 
difference  is  as  much  as  1 1  per  cent,  in  the  case  of 
Norway),  suicide  is  markedly  more  characteristic  of 
the  male  than  of  the  female  sex.  Norway  and 
Scotland,  according  to  figures  that  cover  periods  in 
the  second  half  of  last  century,  stand  first  and  second 
in  the  insanity  record  of  nine  European  countries ; 
but  on  the  corresponding  suicide  record  their  places 
are  fourth  and  eighth.  Denmark  and  Saxony,  where 
suicide  is  most  common,  are  third  and  eighth  in  the 
insanity  returns.^ 

More  interesting  is  the  clearly  proved  fact  that 
suicide  is  much  more  common  in  Protestant  than  in 
Roman  Catholic  communities.  A  recent  examination 
of  the  returns  from  Switzerland  shows  that  in  the 
French-speaking  Catholic  cantons  the  suicides  number 
119  per  million  inhabitants;  in  French-speaking 
Protestant  cantons,  352;  in  German-speaking  Catholic 
cantons,  137;  in  German-speaking  Protestant  cantons, 
307.  In  Protestant  Saxony  on  a  ten-year  average 
there  were  330  suicides  for  each  million  inhabitants; 
in  France,  225;  Austria,  163;  Italy,  58;  Spain,  18. 
The  reason  of  this  is,  in  part,  probably  bound  up  with 
the  greater  social  integration  and  cohesion  of  Roman 
communities.  Not  even  the  proverbially  integrated 
Jews,  welded  together  under  the  pressure  of  an  un- 
sympathetic environment,  show  so  light  a  suicide-rate. 
Liberty  is  essentially  disruptive,  be  it  expressed  in 
thought  or  social  institution  :  the  parasite  has  always 
the  sheltering  host. 

^  These    figures   are    taken    from   G.  Chatterton-Hill's  judicial  study, 
Heredity  and  Selection  in  Sociology. 

228 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

Again,  suicide  for  reasons  akin  to  those  that  we  have 
already  considered  is  much  less  common  in  family- 
circles  than  in  the  case  of  the  isolated  life.  Careful 
statistical  study  once  more  proves  how  family  life  acts 
as  a  determining  factor  in  social  integration,  especially 
in  the  presence  of  children  in  a  family.  Suicide  is  in 
fact  a  social  phenomenon  that  obeys  laws  of  its  own, 
laws  that  sometimes  run  counter  to  those  that  govern 
the  individual  life,  as  in  the  proved  correlation  between 
periods  of  commercial  prosperity  and  increase  in  the 
suicide-rate,  or  the  restraining  and  integrating  effect  of 
crises  and  their  awakening  of  responsibility  in  the 
national  life.  In  short,  suicide,  in  Chatterton-Hill's 
words,  is  "  directly  dependent  for  its  decrease  or  in- 
crease on  the  greater  or  lesser  integration  of  society."  ^ 

If  now  we  seek  to  inquire  along  what  lines  social 
evolution  is  actually  proceeding  consciously  or  un- 
consciously in  relation  to  such  matters,  we  find  a 
curiously  contradictory  result.  It  will  be  noted  that 
endeavours  to  reduce  the  infant  mortality  amongst  the 
working  classes  are  being  attended  with  marked 
success,  and  satisfaction  may  also  be  found  in  our 
present  system  of  free  education,  supplemented  latterly 
by  free  meals  for  school  children,  and  even  the  con- 
veyance of  invalid  children  to  schools.  To  no  one  of 
these  activities  will  the  philanthropist  object :  the  only 
question  is  to  what  degree,  if  at  all,  they  constitute 
alone  a  real  solution  of  the  problem  of  which  they  are 
a  phase.  It  is  not  enough  to  regard  the  feeding  of 
hungry  children  and  the  assistance  of  those  who  are 
handicapped  as  present  pitiable  necessities ;  the  time 
has  come  to  institute  inquiry  into  the  conditions  under 
which  such  necessities  arise.  The  difficulty  is  that, 
almost  immediately,  the  inquirer  is  made  to  feel  that 

^  Op.  cit,  p.  218. 
229 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

the  whole  problem  is  intimately  associated  with  that  of 
the  liberty  of  the  individual,  any  imagined  infringe- 
ment of  which  is  at  once  viewed  with  suspicion.  The 
Hberty  of  the  individual  has,  however,  in  this  country 
simply  become  a  fetish,  upon  whose  altar  thousands  of 
lives  are  annually  sacrificed.  In  the  name  of  an 
already  surrendered  liberty  the  best  redemptive  racial 
and  individual  endeavour  is  consistently  opposed. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  proportion  as  the 
State  takes  upon  itself  the  education,  upkeep,  and 
supervision  of  the  child,  it  tends  in  that  degree  to  give 
doubtful  encouragement  towards  increasing  the  birth- 
rate of  the  least  physically  capable  elements  of  the 
community,  and  to  lessen  the  sense  of  parental  re- 
sponsibility in  quarters  where  it  is  often  slightly  enough 
developed.^  It  may  even  destroy  one  of  the  strongest 
parental  incentives  to  labour,  and  it  tends  to  have  a 
deadening,  if  not  an  alienating,  influence  on  all  those 
filial  affections  that  are  a  stimulus  to  virtuous  devotion. 
The  cry  for  a  higher  birth-rate  ought  to  apply 
strictly  to  desirables.  The  death-rate  for  England  and 
Wales  during  19  lo  was  13-5  per  1000  as  against 
217  in  1851-1855:  this  is  the  lowest  on  record. 
The  reduction  was  mainly  due,  however,  to  a  con- 
spicuous fall  in  the  infantile  death-rate.  Under  the 
improved  conditions  it  is  the  less  fit  forms  that  benefit 
more  than  the  fit.  Where,  as  the  result  of  modern 
appliances  and  greater  efficiency,  it  is  found  that  infant 
mortality,  as  e.g.  in  tuberculosis,  has  been  very  greatly 

^  "  The  Coroner  (to  a  witness  at  Southwark  to-day) :  How  many  children 
has  your  wife  had  ?  Witness  :  Well,  about  fourteen.  The  Coroner  :  You 
say  'about.'  Can't  you  remember  the  exact  number?  Witness:  Well, 
she  has  had  so  many  I  can't  remember.  The  Coroner  :  My  officer  puts  it 
down  at  sixteen.  Is  that  about  right  ?  Witness  :  Yes,  sir,  about  sixteen. 
Another  witness  stated  that  the  correct  number  was  sixteen." —  Westminster 
Gazette,  January  27,  191 1. 

230 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

reduced,  we  yet  find  that  the  death-rate  tends  to 
increase  in  the  case  of  males  of  forty-five  years  and 
upwards.  That  is  to  say,  by  our  increased  care  we 
are  permitting  the  survival  and  multiplication  of  the 
individuals  that  will  probably  reduce  the  racial 
efficiency,  while  it  appears  that  those  in  the  best  years 
of  manhood  are  dying  at  that  period  at  an  increas- 
ing rate.  The  very  humanitarianism  of  some  of  the 
tendencies  embodied  in  present-day  legislation  conceals 
very  real  dangers  to  racial  progress.  The  probability  is 
that  while  immediately  reducing  suffering  they  will  in 
reality  increase  it  for  the  generations  to  come.  It  is  the 
sickly  and  predisposed  that  have  benefited  out  of  all 
proportion  by  recent  hygienic  advance  and  civilisation, 
thus  increasing  the  keenness  of  the  struggle  for  the 
more  fit.  Our  vaunted  saving  of  life  does  not  affect 
the  best  life,  and  means  a  growth  and  increase  of  the 
feebler,  weaklier  life.  It  is  not  the  expansive  elements 
or  individuals  in  the  national  life  that  are  assisted. 

To  strive  to  find  out  the  conditions  of  this  organic 
fitness  which  is  prior  to  social  progress  is  not  to  appear 
in  the  guise  of  an  ogre,  or  because  of  obvious  defects 
to  advocate  a  return  to  Spartan  ideals.  But  it  is  to 
suggest  that,  as  the  sense  of  national  solidarity  and 
responsibility  grows  and  the  feeling  of  duty  towards 
the  future  takes  more  definite  shape  as  a  national  and 
religious  ideal,  we  shall  realise  the  necessity  of  being 
not  less  humanitarian  but  more  providently  so,  in  such 
a  way  that  our  care  for  the  race  will  enter  into  our  care 
of  the  individual,  and  physical  weakness  be  prevented 
from  reproducing  itself  in  forms  that  can  only  be  a 
menace  to  national  life,  and  pain  and  suffering  to  the 
individual  life.  Whatever  hinders  that  expansiveness 
which  is  the  secret  of  progress  is  treachery  to  human 
life.      If  we  do  not  allow  Natural  Selection  to  act  on 

231 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

the  rapidly  increasing  undesirable  elements  of  popula- 
tion for  their  elimination — and  this  would  be  contrary 
to  every  instinct  of  higher  civilisation — then  the  only 
other  alternative  is  to  control  that  multiplication. 
The  work  of  combating  drink  and  disease,  indeed  of 
all  physical  and  moral  redemption,  is  largely  lost  on 
the  race,  and  has  to  be  done  over  again  for  another 
generation,  if  nothing  at  the  same  time  is  done  to 
check  the  multiplication  of  long  proven  strains  of 
biologically  and  morally  degenerate  individuals.  The 
Weismannian  doctrine  of  the  unchanged  germ  plasm, 
inadmissible  in  great  measure  as  we  believe  it  to  be, 
may  yet  serve  to  remind  us  that  the  moral  individual 
change  may  not  easily  or  quickly  affect  the  degenerate 
constitution.  This,  however,  is  certain,  that  any  effect 
that  training  and  education — however  beneficial  to  the 
individual — may  have  upon  the  stock  itself  is  largely 
nullified  so  long  as  we  shrink  from  the  duty  of  con- 
sidering and  dealing  with  the  conditions  under  which 
in  so  many  instances  that  stock  is  being  maintained. 
Bernard  Shaw's  most  modest  claim,  perhaps,  would 
be  that  of  a  serious  writer,  yet  in  the  Dedicatory 
Epistle  in  Man  arid  Superman  there  is  this  arresting 
passage :  "  Promiscuous  breeding  has  produced  a 
weakness  of  character  that  is  too  timid  to  face  the 
full  stringency  of  a  thoroughly  competitive  struggle 
for  existence  and  too  lazy  and  petty  to  organise  the 
commonwealth  co-operatively.  Being  cowards,  we 
defeat  natural  selection  under  cover  of  philanthropy  : 
being  sluggards,  we  neglect  artificial  selection  under 
cover  of  delicacy  and  morality."  ^  In  Christianity  there 
is  fortunately  a  proven  method  for  the  production  of 
the  individual  superman,  but  none  the  less  the  day  is 
not  far  distant  when  in  the  name  of  posterity,  if  not 

^  P.  xxiv. 
232 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  State  will  have  to  step  in  ^ 
to  prevent  the  perpetuation  of  undesirable  strains  of 
heredity  that  have  been  known  to  exist  in  a  "  pure " 
form  for  several  generations.  Altruism  as  advisedly- 
practised  is  a  very  difficult  undertaking :  very  easily  it 
may  do  ultimate  harm  in  excess  of  immediate  good. 
"  Charity,"  says  a  French  writer,  in  a  slightly  different 
connection,  "  causes  half  the  suffering  she  relieves ;  but 
she  cannot  relieve  half  the  suffering  she  has  caused." 
At  present  altruism  tends  to  turn  the  edge  of  Natural 
Selection,  but  makes  no  corresponding  control  move- 
ment, with  the  result  that  it  is  inevitably  causing  an 
increase  of  the  physically  degenerate  elements  in 
society.  We  change  the  environment  for  the  better, 
but  put  no  check  at  all  upon  the  propagation  of  the 
sociologically  undesirable.  A  more  discerning  altruism 
will  proceed  to  devise  means  of  controlling  the  repro- 
duction of  the  imbecile  and  organically  diseased,  as 
also  of  those  elements  that  show  no  foresight  or  sense 
of  responsibility  in  matters  that  so  gravely  concern 
the  national  well-being. 

Its  first  endeavour  will  be  to  collect  data,  to  learn 
where  our  legions  of  insane,  feeble-minded,  deaf-mutes, 
paupers,  and  criminals  come  from,  to  keep  these  strains 
of  human  life  in  their  own  channel,  and  consider  how 
they  may  be  checked.  We  have  become  so  used  to 
these  conditions  that  we  tend  to  think  of  them  as 
necessary,  instead  of  realising  that  the  divine  indulgence 
given  to  "  times  of  ignorance  "  ceases  when  knowledge 
has  been  granted  to  men.  It  is  possible  to  proceed 
along  two  lines  :  either  by  segregation  or  elimination  of 
the  unfit  and  undesirable,  or  by  the  direct  encourage- 
ment of  that  which  may  be  considered  desirable.     The 

1  As  has  already  been  done,  amongst  others,  in   the  States  of  Con- 
necticut and  Indiana,  U.S.A. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

former  alternative  will  preferably  appeal  to  the  eugenic 
mind  ;  for  while  we  know  pretty  clearly,  at  least  in  a 
few  extreme  cases,  particularly  of  disease,  what  is  unfit, 
undesirable,  degenerate,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  decide 
what  qualities  may  be  useful  to  society,  or  in  what 
proportions  they  should  be  encouraged.  And  further, 
in  extreme  cases,  as  Bateson  indicates,^  ''  unfitness  is 
comparatively  definite  in  its  genetic  causation,  and  can, 
not  unfrequently,  be  recognised  as  due  to  the  presence 
of  a  simple  genetic  factor,"  while  on  the  other  hand 
the  higher  physical  and  mental  capacities  seem  to  be 
the  resultant  of  numerous  factors  whose  analysis  or 
synthesis  defies  our  powers. 

In  the  case  of  genetic  variations  of  such  differing 
gravity  as  cataract,  colour-blindness,  epilepsy,  and 
feeble  -  mindedness  which  cannot  be  trained  into 
normality,  an  instinct  of  parsimony  will  repress  any 
idea  of  attempting  the  hopeless  task  of  their  elimina- 
tion by  intermarriage  with  more  healthy  stock.  On  the 
contrary,  "  by  discouraging  imprudent  marriages  and 
absolutely  barring  those  of  persons  of  proved  feeble- 
mindedness (as,  indeed,  is  now  legislatively  provided 
for  in  some  half-dozen  of  the  States  of  the  American 
Union),  we  can  at  least  diminish  the  production  in  the 
future  of  feeble-minded  children."  ^  Segregation  in 
farm  or  industrial  colonies  apart  from  the  ordinary 
community  commends  itself  to  modern  medical  thought 
as  the  proper  means  of  dealing  with  the  majority  of 
such  cases,  "  for  otherwise  there  is  always  the  risk  (too 
obvious  in  the  experience  of  our  maternity  wards  and 
Magdalen  homes)  of  the  production  of  illegitimate 
progeny.  Experience  shows  that  the  inmates  of  such 
colonies  as  have  been  already  established  live  happy, 

*  W.  Bateson,  Mender s  Principles  of  Heredity^  p.  305. 

2  Dr.  G.  E.  Shuttleworth,  Report  of  the  Church  Cojigress,  1910,  p.  150. 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

useful  lives  to  the  extent  of  their  capacity,  and  although 
there  may  be  need  of  increased  legal  power  of  detention 
in  certain  cases,  the  majority  show  no  inclination  to 
leave  the  tactful  and  loving  care  provided  for  them. 
But  many  more  colonies  are  required,  and  inasmuch 
as  the  money  spent  on  them  would  diminish  the  cost 
of  gaols,  workhouses,  inebriate  and  other  institutions 
into  which  the  unprotected  feeble-minded  drift,  society 
would  not  in  the  long  run  be  as  much  out  of  pocket 
by  the  change  proposed  as  might  be  anticipated."  To 
such  industrial  colonies  could  be  attached  the  residential 
schools  that  seem  to  be  more  and  more  called  for  in 
the  case  of  the  increasing  numbers  of  children  medically 
certified  as  defective  and  requiring  special  education. 
Previous  to  all  such  realisation,  however,  must  be  the 
shaping  of  an  ideal  of  greater  social  integration,  in 
virtue  of  which  the  present  generation  will  become 
alive  to  its  responsibility  to  generations  yet  unborn. 
Such  an  ideal  must  ultimately  involve  a  spiritual  con- 
ception and  interpretation  of  Nature.  For  it  is  fact 
of  history  that  where  no  supra-rational  transcendent 
sanction  is  recognised,  human  nature  is  unable  in  itself 
to  subordinate  its  individual  temporal  proclivities  in 
the  interests  of  future  generations,  and  only  those 
communities  in  which  a  definitely  spiritual  outlook  on 
the  world  is  fostered  have  been  proved  to  be  possessed 
of  the  elements  necessary  for  social  survival. 

Heredity  and  Responsibility. 

There  remains  the  perennial  difficulty  of  reconciling 
the  apparently  exclusive  principles  of  personal  responsi- 
bility and  the  transmissibility  of  qualities  from  parent 
to  child.  With  the  Weismannian  denial  of  the 
transmission  of  acquired  characters,  responsibility  would 
remain  with  the  individual.      He   in   large  measure  is 

235 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

"  the  master  of  his  fate."  He  cannot  blame  a  previous 
generation  for  his  own  shortcomings,  nor  can  he 
transmit  his  failings  to  posterity.  Brain  cells  may  be 
trained,  but  not  germ  cells,  and  provided  the  adequate 
environment  be  supplied,  under  its  differential  stimulus 
certain  qualities  are  literally  "  led  forth  "  or  educed,  while 
other  potentialities  are  repressed.  This  would  make 
the  individual's  desirable  development  dependent  on 
his  getting  into  the  best  environment,  while  it  would 
lay  upon  the  community  the  burden  of  seeing  that  the 
handicaps  of  Nature  are  compensated  for  by  a 
superior  quality  of  Nurture.  The  Weismannian  doc- 
trine is,  however,  far  from  admitting  of  sufficiently 
decisive  demonstration  to  warrant  any  particular  line 
of  progress  or  moral  education  being  grounded  upon  it, 
while  in  proportion  as  men  come  to  realise  the 
solidarity  of  the  race  any  tendency  to  fix  the  responsi- 
bility elsewhere  than  on  the  individual  will  take  the 
form  of  a  growing  feeling  that  "  not  a  murderer  is  hung, 
not  a  daughter  starts  on  her  downward  career,  but  a 
great  company,  like  those  who  were  present  at  the 
stoning  of  Stephen,  stand  by  consenting  to  the  ruin,"  ^ 
— his  immediate  ancestors,  perhaps,  but  also  those  who 
encouraged  him  in  the  development  of  his  evil  tend- 
encies, or  complacently  permitted  the  survival  of  the 
conditions  in  which  these  tendencies  flourished. 

The  deeper  question  is  whether  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  personal  responsibility  at  all,  for  the  assertion  of  it 
involves  the  assumption  of  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
Yet  upon  this  assumption  society  is  founded ;  remorse, 
the  feeling  that  a  man  might  have  done  otherwise,  seems 
inexplicable  on  any  other  view.  An  estimate  of  moral 
actions  is  possible  only  on  the  condition  that  they  are 
the  expression  of  a  man's  free  will.      In  Science  there 

^  Amory  Bradford,  Heredity  and  Christian  Problems,  p.  202. 
236 


SOME  SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  HEREDITY 

is  strictly  no  warrant  for  determinism.  Her  state- 
ments are  all  conditional.  They  take  the  general  form 
that  under  such  and  such  conditions  certain  results  will 
follow:  they  do  not  state  that  these  conditions  will 
or  must  occur.  It  is  impossible  not  to  admit  the 
existence  of  a  broad  area  of  determination  in  human 
life  that  is  strict  and  mechanical,  but  to  refuse  to  admit 
the  recognition  of  a  certain  reserved  plot  of  personality 
where  the  determination  is  not  so  fixed  in  expression, 
where  a  certain  plasticity  is  recognisable,  and  where 
that  creative  consciousness,  which  is  the  sole  dynamic 
reality  in  all  phemomena,  can  initiate  action,  is  to  deny 
a  statement  relative  to  the  will  in  name  of  a  physical 
category  of  causation  which  after  all  is  ultimately 
derived  from  the  will  itself. 

Heredity  may  modify  and  condition  responsibility: 
it  cannot  destroy  or  disannul  it  in  the  normal  individual. 
A  man  is  not  necessarily  responsible  for  the  circumstance 
that  certain  possessions  were  bequeathed  to  him  ;  but 
in  so  far  as  they  are  his  possessions  he  is  responsible 
for  the  use  he  makes  of  them.  Where  inheritance  and 
heir  are  one  the  conditions  are  not  otherwise.  "  Behold, 
all  souls  are  mine ;  as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the 
soul  of  the  son  is  mine.  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall 
die."  1  At  the  same  time  heredity  introduces  shades  of 
responsibility  so  subtle  and  delicate  that  the  more  we 
study  men  as  we  see  them  around  us,  the  more  impos- 
sible it  appears  for  us  to  be  able  to  judge  any  man,  the 
more  we  feel  that  God  alone  can  judge  righteously. 

^  Ezek.  xviii.  4. 


237 


CHAPTER    X 

ENVIRONMENT 

Than  Environment,  in  the  broadest  sense  of  that  term, 
no  factor  in  Evolution  is  more  important.  Under  this 
category  we  may  include  e.g.  the  results  of  the  stimula- 
tion of  particular  food,  of  climate,  of  injury,  and  of  use 
and  disuse,  on  the  assumed  transmissibility  of  the 
results  of  whose  play  upon  the  organism  the  Lamarckian 
explanation  of  Evolution  was  based.  Important  in 
the  case  of  the  individual  life-history,  it  is  not  easy,  in 
face  of  the  uncertainty  regarding  their  transmissibility, 
to  estimate  their  value  in  the  racial  history.  Certainly 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom  use  and  disuse  can  have 
played  no  part.  We  cannot  suppose  that  the  facts  of 
hair  distribution  in  man  are  explained  on  the  sup- 
position that  he  "  used  "  the  hair  of  his  head  more  than 
that  on  his  anthropoid  back.  No  organ  is  more  used 
than  the  tongue,  but  there  is  no  increment  of  use- 
inheritance.  I f  the  environment  influences  the  individual 
through  the  germ  cell,  and  the  results  are  transmissible, 
we  should  expect  a  progressive  degeneration  in  the 
case  of  forms  inhabiting  unfavourable  environments. 
But  the  facts  hardly  bear  this  out.  We  may  have 
a  repetition  in  successive  generations  of  pale-faced 
stuntedness  in  slum-bred  children,  but  it  does  not 
progress  to  any  such  marked  extent  as  would  be  the 
logical    outcome    of    the    acquired    character    theory. 

238 


ENVIRONMENT 

Nature  does  not  move  so  quickly  as  all  that.  Through- 
out the  Middle  Ages  almost  till  modern  times,  the 
Jewish  people  were  confined  to  the  slums  of  the  cities 
where  they  dwelt,  but  the  Ghetto  characteristics  do 
not  include  progressive  physical  degeneration. 

The  fact  that  the  seeming  inherited  effects  of  these 
aspects  of  environmental  influence  may  be  otherwise 
explained  in  every  case  adds  a  sense  of  suspicion  to 
the  too  easy  Lamarckian  interpretation.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  is  experimental  work  suggesting  that  some 
measure  of  truth — as  yet,  however,  incapable  of  clear 
definition — corresponds  to  the  general  belief  that  the 
individual  can  to  some  extent  permanently  modify  its 
ancestral  patrimony,  and  that  the  effects  of  the  environ- 
ment may  under  certain  special  conditions  be,  so  to 
speak,  more  than  skin  deep.  There  is  little  unequi- 
vocal proof  that  a  specific  acquired  variation  is  exactly 
reproduced  in  the  succeeding  generation  by  direct 
transmission,  but  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  that 
the  gain  or  loss  of  the  individual  is  without  any  effect  on 
his  offspring.  Darwin,  in  his  earlier  days,  was  inclined 
to  treat  the  Lamarckian  factors  with  scant  respect. 
Later,  his  views  were  modified.  In  1876 — two  years 
after  the  appearance  of  the  second  edition  of  The  Descent 
of  Man — he  wrote :  "  In  my  opinion  the  greatest  error 
which  I  have  committed  has  been  not  allowing  suffi- 
cient weight  to  the  direct  action  of  the  environment,  i.e. 
food,  climate,  etc.,  independently  of  natural  selection."  ^ 

How  much  it  is  necessary  to  take  the  environment 
into  account  at  every  moment  in  considering  the 
development  of  any  form  is  shown,  e.g.^  by  Herbst's 
experiments  on  the  eg^  of  the  sea-urchin.  When 
certain  components  of  the  salt  water  were  replaced  by 
other  chemical  substances,  the    structure  of  the  larva 

^  Life  and  Letters^  vol.  iii.  p.  159. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

differed  profoundly  from  that  developed  under  the 
normal  condition.^  In  fact,  it  is  only  in  studying  the 
abnormal  environment  and  its  results  that  we  realise 
the  persistent  effect  of  the  normal  environment.  The 
study  of  the  living  organism  in  its  environment  is  the 
study  of  two  variables ;  their  interaction  produces  the 
specific  results  that  we  see.  In  the  case  of  the  lower 
organisms,  this  environment,  wholly  physical  in  character, 
almost  completely  determines  their  life.  According  to 
their  obedience  or  disobedience  in  adaptation,  do  they 
survive  or  fail.  It  will  appear  that,  ultimately,  the  environ- 
ment, spiritually  conceived,  is  the  more  enduring  element, 
nevertheless  it  also  changes,  and  although  these  changes 
are  slower  and  not  usually  on  so  marked  a  scale  as  the 
changes  in  the  organism,  it  can  still  be  shown  that 
there  is  a  marked  correlation  between  such  change  and 
critical  moments  in  the  evolution  of  life,  as  at  the  close 
of  the  Carboniferous  Era,  when  reduction  of  the  amount 
of  carbon  dioxide  in  the  atmosphere  by  the  vegetation, 
combined  with  elevation  of  the  land  surfaces,  prepared 
the  way  for  a  new  advance.  To  every  change  in  the 
environment  there  is  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
organism. 

Experimental  work,  e.g.  that  of  W.  L.  Tower  on 
Chrysomelid  Beetles  of  the  genus  Leptinotarsa,^  has 
been  conducted  with  a  view  to  determining  the  precise 
relation  of  environmental  stimuli  and  changes  to  the 
production  of  variations.  Some  very  striking  results 
have  been  reached,  proving  the  direct  influence  of 
environmental  stimuli — changes,  e.g,^  in  temperature, 
food,  light,  etc. — in  disturbing  directly  the  equilibrium 
of  germ  cells,  and  so  inducing  marked  variation  in  the 
next   generation,   while   the  immediate   effects   of  the 

^  Archiv.  EniwicJz.  Mech.  17,  1904. 
2  Pub.  No.  48,  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington,  1907. 
240 


ENVIRONMENT 

environment  in  bringing  about  change  in  the  individual 
— those  changes  that  are  of  the  nature  of  adjustments — 
is  the  initial  observation  of  biology.  Even  from  the 
Weismannian  point  of  view,  adjustments  or  adaptations 
are  effected  by  the  selection  of  genetic  variations. 
The  selecting  agency  is  none  other  than  the  environ- 
ment ;  or  more  accurately,  the  organism  is  at  every 
moment  reacting  to  the  environment — a  reaction 
different  from  the  passive  reaction  of  the  stone  to  a 
kick — a  reaction  which  in  the  end  is  of  the  nature  of 
life  or  death  usually  before  the  period  of  reproduction, 
and  the  final  result  of  which,  at  any  moment,  is  selection 
or  rejection.  In  every  way  new  characters  depend  upon 
the  environment — both  for  origination  and  for  perpetua- 
tion. How,  exactly,  the  stimulus  acts  we  do  not 
know,  nor  can  we  in  any  degree  predict  the  character 
of  the  variation.  But  that  the  environment  causes 
variation  in  an  orderly  and  broad-schemed  manner 
there  is  no  doubt.  In  short,  the  ultimate  cause  of 
variation  lies  in  the  environment,  whether  its  action  is 
direct  or  indirect. 

In  the  case  of  man,  we  have  already  definitely 
committed  ourselves  to  the  position  that  environment 
has  the  last  word.  In  his  case  so  little  depends  com- 
paratively upon  the  inborn  capacity  and  so  much 
upon  the  actual  acquirements,  that  the  environment 
means  more  to  him  than  it  does  to  any  other  creature. 
His  relation  to  it  is  a  growing  relation.  And  we  do 
well  to  bear  in  mind  the  importance  of  this  factor  in 
the  individual  life,  always  present,  always  varied, 
counting  because  of  its  constant  pressure. 

"There  was  a  child  went  forth  every  day; 
And  the  first  object  he  looked  upon,  that  object  he  became ; 
And  that  object  became    part    of  him    for  the  day,  or  a    certain  part 
of  the  day,  or  for  many  years,  or  stretching  cycles  of  years. 

Q  241 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

The  early  lilacs  became  part  of  this  child, 

And    grass,  and  white    and  red    morning-glories,  and   white    and   red 
clover,  and  the  song  of  the  phcebe-bird,"  ^  etc. 

Yet  already  in  the  higher  animals,  and  certainly  in 
man,  the  influence  of  organism  upon  organism  counts 
for  more  than  the  inorganic  environment,  —  those 
subtle  interactions  that  are  the  result  of  the  web  of 
life,  like  the  unhappy  effects  produced  by  parasites  upon 
their  hosts,  the  insect  galls  on  plants  and  trees,  the 
influence  of  the  various  forms  and  classes  of  society 
upon  its  members.  Here  the  effect  of  the  environment 
is  not  as  a  rule  immediate :  its  influence  is  chiefly  felt 
in  modifying  the  action  of  the  individual,  in  stimulating, 
limiting,  or  diminishing  its  functional  activity.  Ac- 
cordingly we  must  expand  our  conception  of  the 
environment  beyond  these  three-dimensional  aspects 
with  which  we  usually  associate  it  when  considering 
it  in  its  relation  to  the  humbler  forms  of  life.  We 
must  include  not  merely  its  physical  but  its  psychical 
aspects.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  addition  to  rela- 
tions with  the  inorganic  aspects  of  the  environment  the 
members  of  early  protozoan  colonial  forms  were  in  direct 
or  indirect  physical  contact  with  one  another  by  con- 
necting filaments  {e.^,  linin  elements  of  the  reticulum)^ 
or  otherwise,  by  which  means  not  merely  were  greater 
unity  and  compactness  of  social  life  brought  about 
as  the  response  made  by  individual  members  to  par- 
ticular stimuli  was  communicated  to  other  members, 
but  the  condition  of  some  members  exerted  a  direct 
influence  upon  others.  In  some  such  way  does  the 
individual  cell  in  all  higher  organisms  become  aware 
of  the  responses  to  environmental  tendencies  and 
stimuli  given  by  other  cells  until  centralisation  and 
unity  of  response  result.     The  process  of  co-ordinating 

1  Walt  Whitman,  "Assimilations."  -  Cf.  pp.  8i,  lOO. 

242 


ENVIRONMENT 

and  centralising  the  differing  reports  on  the  environ- 
ment made  by  the  units  of  an  organic  colonial  form 
is  strictly  paralleled  by  the  development  in  the  central 
nervous  system.  When  we  reach  the  stage  of  man, 
while  this  direct  physical  contact  normally  ceases, 
nothing  is  more  clear  or  strong  than  the  environmental 
influence  of  his  fellows.  It  may  appear  with  the 
physical  element  strongly  marked,  as  in  the  mutual 
effect  upon  one  another  of  mother  and  child,  although 
even  here  the  influence  is  disparate — the  desire  of  the 
child  for  its  mother  being  more  physical  than  psychical, 
that  of  the  mother  for  the  child  more  psychical  than 
physical ;  ^  but  we  quickly  reach  cases  where,  although 
doubtless  there  still  is  nervous  stimulation,  the  principal 
activity  seems  to  be  in  another  dimension,  so  to  speak, 
and  the  influence  of  mind  upon  mind  or  feeling  upon 
feeling  may  be  exerted  altogether  apart  from  sight 
or  sound  or  touch.  This  psychical  zone  of  the  en- 
vironment means  more  to  man  than  any  other.  The 
communication  between  its  elements  has  usually  been 
considered  to  be  indirect  in  character,  as  by  signs  and 
gestures,  and  in  close  relation  with  physical  phenomena  ; 
but  it  appears  increasingly  probable  that  the  psychical 
impulses  or  contacts  may  be  also  direct  (telepathic). 

Of  the  reality  of  this  subtler  psychical  aspect  of  the 
environment  no  man  can  have  any  doubt.  As  the 
result  of  its  stimuli  the  individual  mind  develops,  the 
individual's  feelings  are  awakened.  It  is  true  that  in 
this  zone  the  three-dimensional  tests  are  unavailing, — 
we  cannot  calculate  the  horse-power  of  hate  nor  take 
the  specific  gravity  of  love, — yet  our  perceptions  of  the 
psychical  and  of  the  physical  zones  are  ultimately 
alike  in  being  states  of  consciousness,  affections  of 
some  discerning  principle   associated  with   the  central 

1  Cf.  H.  M.  Bernard,  So7ne  Neglected  Factors  in  Evolution^  p.  390. 
243 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

nervous  system.  With  the  five  senses  man  is  magnifi- 
cently equipped  for  his  exploration  of  the  physical 
zone  of  the  environment,  and  for  this  psychical  zone — 
where  in  our  perfect  development  "  we  shall  know 
even  as  we  are  known  " — man  seems  to  be  equipped 
as  a  definitely  spiritual  personality,  whose  evolution  is 
only  really  now  beginning.  Concerning  the  relation 
to  the  body  of  the  percipient  integrating  controlling 
spirit  that  is  something  more  than  the  sum  of  his 
powers  of  perception  into  the  physical  and  psychical 
forces  of  the  environment,  various  views  have  been 
held.  Without  examining  them  we  may  consider  the 
genetic  character  of  this  "spirit"  and  its  relation  to 
the  environment. 

We  have  seen  that  the  fundamental  similarities  in 
racial,  national,  even  occupational  mental  character 
point  to  the  basal  role  of  heredity  :  further,  the  inex- 
pressibly slow  rate  of  evolution  is  only  to  be  accounted 
for  on  the  same  understanding.  Tremendously  con- 
ditioned by  physical  heredity  yet  responsive  to  the 
traditional  psychical  environment,  the  individual  moves 
along  in  the  racial  stream  of  human  life.  Yet  is  there 
concealed  within  the  body  an  integrating  controlling 
selfhood  that  leaps  into  activity  when  touched  by  the 
spiritual  in  the  environment.  In  the  course  of  the 
interchange  a  stage  is  reached  when  it  may  acquire  a 
stability  that  outlasts  the  shock  of  death.^  Change  in 
the  physical  environment  will  undoubtedly  help  to  set 
up  change  in  the  physical  part  of  the  organism.  This 
physical  dress  certainly  is  handed  on  in  direct  con- 
tinuity from  one  generation  to  another ;  but  the  node^ 
the  specific  spiritual  centre  of  combination  of  the 
elements  of  personality  is  only  developed  at  self-con- 
sciousness, and  is  thereafter  persistent  in  a  greater  degree 
'  Cf.  pp.  374,  375. 
244 


ENVIRONMENT 

than  any  element  that  it  combines.  Its  constituents 
are  largely,  perhaps  all,  hereditary,  but  the  particular 
collocation — that  cream  that  rises  to  the  top  out  of 
them  all,  that  extract  or  essence  in  itself — is  not  a 
hereditary  thing.  It  is  a  unique  creation  ;  it  is  not  a 
duplicate;  it  is  a  living  soul.  The  physical  stream 
shows  continuity,  but  those  individualities  that  rise 
out  of  it  are  not  in  genetic  relation.  The  higher  we 
rise  in  the  scale  of  mentality,  the  wider  the  range  of 
individuality,  until  in  the  human  race  we  find  its 
greatest  scope ;  but  even  within  the  range  of  human 
life  we  find  immense  variety  and  distinctiveness  that 
mean  more  in  life  and  action  than  the  common  basal 
heredity.  The  lower  ranges  of  mentality  doubtless 
are  subject  to  hereditary  transmission,  as  we  have 
seen :  ^  we  are  aware  of  primary  instincts  and  feelings, 
mental  associations,  and  specific  responses  that  are 
common  to  men  and  reappear  generation  after  genera- 
tion, thus  suggesting  definite  transmission.  Neverthe- 
less, there  remains  that  which  is  not  within  the  process 
in  quite  the  same  sense  as  the  rest,  for  it  comprehends 
the  process  and  is  akin  to  that  which  is  at  the  core  of 
it  all.  This  conception  of  spiritual  personality,  as 
that  which  controls  those  lower  ranges,  and  is  something 
distinctive  and  originative  in  action  and  thought — a 
kind  of  receiver  and  transmitter  in  one,  a  coherer  in 
short — does  not  fit  itself  into  the  ordinary  ideas  of 
hereditary  mechanics.  Consciousness,  particularly  in  its 
highest  sweep  of  self-consciousness,  is  not  something 
that  is  explicable  in  terms  of  any  simpler  antecedents 
merely :  it  is  unintelligible  apart  from  the  larger  con- 
sciousness that  finds  a  partial  expression  in  the  less,  and 
in  varying  degrees  in  other  phenomena  of  Nature.  It 
pervades  the  environment,  and  out  of  that  works  itself 

1  Cf.  p.  2i6. 
245 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

into  the  being  of  the  lesser  expressions  of  it.  It  is 
because  personalities  crystallise  out  of  this  great 
stream  of  human  life  that  it  behoves  us  to  do  what  we 
can  towards  its  eugenic  improvement.  The  naturalistic 
and  the  religious  view,  each  of  them,  expresses  a  truth, 
and  it  is  no  help  sharply  to  oppose  them.  Certainly 
man  is,  rather  than  has,  a  soul ;  and  once  he  has 
reached  the  level  of  self-consciousness  he  is  able 
through  his  spirit  to  come  into  communion  with  that 
Spirit  that  informs  the  whole  process  of  which  he  is 
but  a  part.  He  is  of  it,  and  yet  not  of  it :  for  a 
period,  his  incubation  period  as  it  were,  the  environ- 
ment acts  as  his  nurse  in  its  purely  physical  and 
proximate  aspects,  but  a  stage  comes  when  he  is  able 
to  penetrate  past  that  which  is  proximate  and  im- 
mediate to  the  deeper  Reality  in  which  everything 
consists. 

How,  then,  shall  we  ultimately  think  of  the  environ- 
ment? In  its  widest  sense  we  may  apply  the  term 
to  everything  that  is  external  to  the  living  being. 
But  it  is  only  the  informing  energies  there  that 
actively  affect  it.  We  have  already  realised  how  any 
particular  stage  of  development  is  the  resultant  of 
the  effect  of  the  environment  upon  the  preceding 
stage  of  the  organism.  Now,  this  in  its  proximate 
physical  aspects  is  very  simple  for  the  simple  forms  of 
life.  The  protozoon  is  in  minimal  correspondence  with 
its  environment.  Not  merely  is  its  range  of  activity 
very  limited  spatially,  temporally,  and  in  diversity 
but  the  isolation  of  its  life  in  relation  to  its  fellows 
is  almost  complete.  The  protozoon  and  the  fish  are 
literally  in  the  same  environment,  yet  how  different  the 
environment  is  to  the  fish  by  reason  of  its  wider  range 
of  commerce.  Its  eye  involves  a  greater  acquaintance 
with  the  environment  than  can  be  gained  by  the  diffuse 

246 


ENVIRONMENT 

phototactism  of  the  protozoon.  As  life  advances,  the 
successively  higher  forms  come  into  deeper  correspond- 
ence with  an  increasing  number  of  elements  in  the 
environment.  Evolution  essentially  involves  the  pro- 
gressive development  of  the  means  of  adjustment  of 
the  organism  to  the  environment.  The  criterion  of 
advance  is  the  scale  of  correspondence  with  the 
environment :  in  that  lies  fulness  of  life.  Evolution 
is  not  merely  an  unfolding  from  within ;  it  is  an 
infolding  from  without.^  And  that  which  is  taken 
in  at  one  stage,  energising  within  the  individual, 
prepares  it  for  a  yet  wider,  more  subtle,  and  more 
intimate  relation  with  the  environment.  The  higher 
the  form,  the  greater  and  more  complete  is  its 
correspondence  both  extensively  and  intensively  with 
the  environment.  In  man,  with  his  highly  specialised 
nervous  system  so  co-ordinated  as  to  enable  him  to 
compass  the  environment  and  control  aspects  of  it 
in  a  way  that  is  unique  amongst  organisms,  we  see 
this  correspondence  marvellously  developed,  yet  we 
have  realised  how  poor  is  even  the  best  human 
correspondence.  The  progressive  evolution  of  the 
eye  may  be  traced  through  various  stages  from 
Paramecium  with  its  diffuse,  positive  phototactism, 
through  Euglena  with  its  eye-spot,  up  to  the  well- 
developed  vertebrate  eye,  with  its  fine  capacities 
for  appreciating  form  and  colour.  Light  was  there, 
however,  all  the  time,  though  but  dimly  perceived 
by  the  lowest  forms.  Not  otherwise  could  living 
organisms  have  become  aware  of  and  responded  to 
the  light  demands  of  their  environment  by  the  forma- 
tion of  an  eye.  Even  in  the  development  of  this 
single  sense  there  has  been  a  growth  in  the  range 
of  experience,  each  stage  marked  by  illusions  which 

^  Cf.  H.  Drummond,  The  Ascent  of  Man,  p.  414. 
247 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

were  corrected  by  further  advance,  each  stage  con- 
ceivably characterised  by  a  certain  agnosticism  with 
regard  to  any  subsequent  stage.  "  New  organs  do  not 
develop  unless  there  is  a  function  for  them  to  discharge 
connected  with  a  correlated  external  condition."  ^  It 
is  from  the  environment  that  the  inflow  and  out- 
call  originate,  and  each  new  relationship  between  the 
progressing  organism  and  the  environment  makes 
that  same  old  environment  something  different  and 
new.  When  we  consider  the  racial  history  we  may 
even  notice  a  grading  in  the  different  dominant  types 
that  were  successively  produced  as  the  resultant  of 
its  action — a  definite  character  in  the  successive  con- 
formities that  meant  survival, — powers  of  assimilation, 
muscle,  then  cleverness  (mental  ability),  unselfishness 
and  social  virtue,  spirituality, — until  finally  the  en- 
vironment in  its  deepest  most  spiritual  aspect  seems 
to  take  the  guise  of  "  a  power  not  ourselves  making 
for  righteousness."  Now,  in  the  case  of  the  ear,  we 
can  trace  its  relationship  to  different  elements  (water 
in  the  case  of  fishes,  air  in  the  case  of  terrestrial 
forms)  in  response  to  whose  vibrations  it  has  developed. 
In  like  manner  there  is  a  distinctive  adaptation  of  the 
tongue,  nose,  and  fingers  to  material  aspects  of  the 
environment.  But  all  our  knowledge  of  these  elements 
will  not  help  us  when  we  strive  to  understand  the  eye. 
Accordingly  we  must  seek  another  element — the  ether, 
subtler  far  than  those  under  whose  influence  the  other 
senses  were  evolved — before  we  unravel  the  corre- 
spondence here,  and  we  become  aware  of  the  ethereal 
environment  which,  mayhap,  is  not  discontinuous  with 
the  environment  of  material  things,  and  through  which 
a  man  gains  a  new  view  of  the  cosmos.  Interpreting 
the  environment  in  terms  of  the  ether  means  some- 

^  Prof.  A.  Macalister,  Expositor ^  January  1 910. 
248 


ENVIRONMENT 

thing  more  generalised  and  profound.  Yet  life  and 
thought  itself  in  the  citadel  of  this  outreaching  being 
are  not  explained  by  reference  to  the  material  environ- 
ment or  the  ethereal  undulations.  Light  is  not 
explicable  by  the  material  environment  alone:  still 
less  can  life  and  thought  be  interpreted  by  the  material 
and  ethereal  environments  alone.  The  grossly  material 
environment  does  not  exhaust  man's  possibilities :  he 
evidently  responds  to  or  is  influenced  by  something 
more  than  the  things  he  touches,  tastes,  and  smells. 
Even  his  sense  of  sight  is  not  concerned  alone  with 
matter,  ordinarily  conceived.  So  we  are  fain  to  believe 
that  in  the  environment  must  be  some  other  element, 
"  met-ethereal,"  akin  to  thought  and  righteousness,  akin 
to  that  which  it  has  persistently  produced  of  lofty 
moral  and  religious  idealism  in  the  noblest  of  men, 
akin  to  those  characters  that  it  has  progressively 
demanded  in  living  beings  as  the  condition  of  sur- 
vival. At  any  rate,  we  cannot  conceive  of  the 
environment  as  merely  mechanical  and  material. 
There  must  be  that  which  is  spiritual  and  righteous 
about  it.  Indeed,  in  its  most  intimate  and  ultimate 
manifestation,  shall  we  call  the  environment  "it"  or 
"  Him  "  ?  Can  there  be  anything  less  or  lower  in  the 
cause  than  there  is  in  the  effect  ?  Have  we  not  here 
to  do  with  Him  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being  ? 

For,  when  finally  we  consider  that  man  is  a  religious 
animal,  we  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  environment  that  elicits  that  particular 
characteristic.  Has  not  the  human  mind  since  the 
beginning  been  aware  of  some  larger  yet  subtler 
spiritual  character  in  the  environment  than  that  which 
is  merely  found  in  the  psychical  zone  of  his  fellows' 
minds  ?      How  else  shall  we  explain  those  potentialities 

249 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

in  every  man,  wrought  into  the  fibre  of  the  race  through 
its  past  experience,  initially  developing  now,  like  the 
elements  of  the  embryonic  eye,  no  longer  under  the 
original  stimulus,  yet  able  to  respond  to  it  directly 
they  are  placed  under  its  influence?  As  little  can 
we  believe  that  the  eye  was  developed  without  the 
play  of  the  ether  waves  as  that  the  religious  faculty 
was  developed  without  thrills  and  pulses  of  some 
corresponding  Reality  in  the  environment.  Perhaps 
the  Coelenterate  hydra,  if  self-conscious,  would  have 
worshipped  a  glorified  stomach,  and  the  worm  a  glorified 
muscular  force  ^  (and  some  men  still  hold  such  objects  of 
worship  in  reverence,  but  they  are  human  reversions). 
We  must  judge  by  the  highest  and  the  best.  Nor  does 
it  follow  that  as  in  the  growing  revelation  even  higher 
features  are  later  discerned  in  the  environment,  those 
that  are  earlier  or  lower  absolutely  disappear.  The 
son  of  a  king  may  know  his  father  first  as  love  and 
kindness,  and  later  realise  that  he  is  a  statesman,  and 
a  king  all-wise  and  powerful,  yet  does  not  cease  to 
think  of  him  as  love  and  tenderness.  Henceforward, 
however,  man's  development  will  be  spiritual,  and  so 
we  are  compelled  to  believe  in  a  spiritual  cause  in  the 
environment  that  was  aware  of  an  end  from  the  be- 
ginning, towards  which  it  has  all  along  been  working. 
Man's  further  progress  depends  on  conformity  to  this 
spiritual  environment,  i.e.  in  becoming  like  it,  and  he 
can  consciously  conform.  The  interplay,  the  unfolding 
and  infolding,  are  there  all  along :  by  mutual  reaction 
each  is  strengthened.  But  conformity  to  what  is 
deepest  and  best,  conformity  to  those  realities  that  are 
unseen  and  eternal,  means  nonconformity  to  some  of 

1  Cf.  J.  M.  Tyler,  llie  Whence  and  the  Whither  of  Man,  p.  l6o, 
from  whose  pages  much  assistance  in  the  presentation  in  this  paragraph  has 
been  derived. 

250 


ENVIRONMENT 

the  lower,  more  palpable  and  proximate  elements  of 
the  environment.  It  means,  in  addition,  conformity  or 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  individual's  innermost 
structure  and  higher  being.  It  involves  deliberate 
surrender  to  the  influences  of  the  spiritual  environment, 
that  mutual  interaction  of  the  human  mind  with  the 
eternal  Mind  under  which  arise  those  visions  of  ideals 
yet  to  be  achieved,  ideals  of  social  and  individual 
worth,  the  ideal  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  By  reflection 
on  these  the  individual  under  the  evolutionary  influence 
of  the  informing  Spirit  becomes  "  persuaded  "  of  them, 
and  his  life  becomes  a  life  of  devotion  to  them  until 
in  it  they  become  luminous  to  his  fellow-men.  In- 
evitably through  the  inertia  of  the  material,  and  the  self- 
absorption  of  the  present,  their  realisation  will  be  pushed 
out  into  the  future.  But  these  are  the  men  who  are  hold- 
ing and  shaping  the  future,  while  those  of  the  bounded 
horizon,  who  are  engrossed  with  the  present,  completely 
adapting  themselves  to  it,  must  perish  with  it.  To 
walk  by  sight  conforming  to  the  palpable  is  super- 
ficiality of  life.  Even  that  cannot  be  done  without 
faith,  only  the  man  is  not  aware  of  it  in  his  spiritually 
unconscious  existence.  He  only  is  alive  who  lives 
consciously  by  faith,  a  faith  that  holds  the  future  just 
as  surely  as  it  understands  the  present.  Paul  states 
the  law,  "  Be  not  conformed  to  this  world ;  but  be 
ye  transformed  (fierafiopcpovade)  by  the  renewing  of 
your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good,  and 
acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God."  ^  Within  limits 
the  law  holds  true  for  the  lower  creation ;  it  was 
the  rule  of  progress  even  in  the  Silurian  days.  The 
mollusc  conformed  to  the  most  obvious  and  proximate 
elements  in  its  environment,  and  progress  ceased  for 
it.      It  lived   a  life  of  ease :  food  there  was  for  it  in 

1  Rom.  xii.  2. 
251 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

plenty  in  the  slime,  and  in  assimilation  and  repro- 
duction its  whole  life  consisted.  But  the  ancestral 
vertebrate,  forced  into  an  active  swimming  life  because 
of  the  competition  with  the  gigantic  shell-clad  Ortho- 
ceras,  conformed  in  another  way,  and  was  transformed, 
lit.  metamorphosed,  into  something  higher.^  A  certain 
measure  of  conformity  is  necessary  to  secure  that 
survival  without  which  there  can  be  no  possibility  of 
progress ;  yet  the  persistent  temptation  is  to  conform 
so  completely  to  the  proximate  elements  of  the 
momentary  environment  that  there  is  no  possibility 
of  permanent  survival,  still  less  of  advance.  It  is 
admitted  that  the  unmasking  of  this  ultimate  En- 
vironment is  very  gradual,  that  even  yet  man  is  not 
fully  aware  of  God,  cannot  comprehend  Him  in  His 
infinity.  In  this  direction,  however,  it  seems  perfectly 
clear  that  the  further  evolution  of  man  must  take  place 
if  he  is  to  progress,  for  he  is  most  sharply  distinguished 
from  the  forms  immediately  below  him  by  his  moral 
and  religious  characteristics,  and  they  are  most  highly 
developed  amongst  the  most  civilised  peoples.  True, 
that  progress  is  very  slow,  and  the  great  majority 
of  men  are  not  even  aware  of  its  direction,  being 
content  with  conformity  merely  to  the  physical  ele- 
ments in  the  environment.  But  as  the  sensitive 
photographic  plate,  steadily  and  long  exposed,  reveals 
what  human  eye  has  never  seen,  even  with  the 
telescope,  of  the  farthest  and  deepest  heaven,  so  in 
the  human  soul  set  steadily  towards  the  spiritual 
environment,  will  there,  eventually,  be  mirrored  some- 
thing in  revelation  of  the  personal  God  so  dimly  seen 
in  the  immediate  physical  environment.  Or,  best  of 
all,  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  correspondence 
with    God    was    perfect,    and    in    whose    mind    were 

^  J.  M.  Tyler,  op.  cit.  p.  200. 
252 


ENVIRONMENT 

focused  the  rays  of  spiritual  truth  from  our  spiritual 
Environment  that  have  become  a  revelation  to  man, 
shall  we  see  the  clearest  reflection  of  the  Divine  Glory. 
To  dwell  in  such  complete  and  perfect  correspondence 
as  was  His  with  the  Supreme  Environment,  which  is 
God, — that  is  heaven. 


253 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

Of  the  world  process  as  a  whole,  it  will  be  agreed 
that  our  finite  minds  with  their  limited  ancillary 
appliances  can  form  no  adequate  conception.  Quite 
apart  from  all  ideas  of  development,  the  modern 
account  of  the  proper  motion  of  the  stars,  for  example, 
raises  the  question  of  direction  in  a  bewildering  way. 
In  an  epoch-making  paper  on  star-streaming,^  Kapteyn 
gives  evidence  for  believing  that  two  apparent  direc- 
tions of  motion  predominate  in  the  stellar  world,  and 
that  the  two  star-streams  which  comprise  the  stellar 
universe  as  known  to  us,  must  be  moving  in  diametri- 
cally opposite  directions.  He  adds :  "In  order  to 
prevent  misconception,  however,  it  will  be  well  to  state 
expressly  that  the  existence  of  two  main  stream-lines 
does  not  imply  that  the  real  motions  of  the  stars  are 
all  exclusively  directed  to  either  of  the  two  vertices 
{i.e.  the  points  of  the  sphere  towards  which  the 
star-streams  seem  to  be  directed) ;  there  is  only  a 
decided  preference  for  these  directions.  .  .  .  All  the 
stars,  without  exception,  belong  to  one  of  the  two 
streams." 

The  fact  of  these  two  apparently  aimless  star-drifts 
moving  past  one  another  in  opposite  directions  through 

^  Brit.  Assoc.  Report^  1905,  p.  257.     Subsequent  confirmation  has  been 
given  by  Eddington  and  Dyson. 

254 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

space  has  already  been  seized  on  as  evidence  of  the 
purposelessness  of  the  universe.  So  also  might  a 
mayfly  released  one  sunny  Saturday  afternoon  from 
the  prison  of  its  lower  life  in  the  quiet  of  a  canal  hard 
by  some  city  notice  two  streams  of  human  beings 
passing  in  opposite  directions  along  the  two  banks,  the 
one  from  the  country  into  the  city,  empty-handed  yet 
pensive,  to  purchase  their  week-end  needs,  the  other 
passing  from  the  city,  buoyant  though  heavily  laden, 
to  picnic  in  the  fields.  And  if  towards  the  close  of 
the  day,  as  the  mayfly's  life  ebbed  with  the  withdrawal 
of  the  sun's  rays,  it  noticed  a  reversal  in  these  move- 
ments, as  the  country-people  laden  with  their  stores 
moved  out  again  with  gladness  towards  their  homes, 
while  the  townspeople,  their  outing  ended,  moved 
unburdened  yet  subdued  towards  the  city  again,  its 
philosophy  of  human  existence  might  well  be  that 
though  there  was  a  certain  background  of  permanent 
stability,  yet  life  consisted  in  drifts  in  two  opposite 
directions  which  after  a  time  slowed  down,  ceased,  and 
then  recommenced  in  the  reverse  directions,  accom- 
panied by  a  certain  redistribution  of  matter  and 
apparent  change  of  energy.  What  could  the  mayfly 
learn  of  human  purpose?  Brief  as  the  love-dance  of 
the  mayfly  in  the  sun  is  the  life  of  man  compared  with 
the  process  of  the  ages :  the  human  ephemerid  is  aware 
of  movement,  redistribution  of  matter,  and  transforma- 
tion of  energy,  and  too  often  he  writes  it  down  as 
aimless  and  purposeless.  Much  current  philosophy  is 
on  a  par  with  the  mayfly's. 

However  we  may  seek  to  decide  the  issue  as  to 
direction,  it  must  to-day  take  its  place  in  an  evolu- 
tionary scheme.  This  at  once  prevents  us  going  out 
into  the  world  there  to  gather  ready-made  proofs  of 
divinity :  rather  does  it  show  us  a  world  that  is  be- 

255 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

coming  divine.     Between  the  watch  and  the  flower^ 
there  is  this  further  enormous  difference  that,  while  the 
former  is  so  little   in   itself — so    easily  compassed    in 
understanding  in  its  entirety — that  the   Paleyan  mind 
goes   off  in   speculative  questioning  about  the  maker, 
the  latter  is  so  inexhaustible    that  inquiry  takes    the 
form.  What  is  it?      But  to  answer  this,  as  Tennyson 
rightly  perceived,  is  to  understand  all  about  not  merely 
the  flower,  but  the  Whole  to  which  it  is  related.     Not 
merely  the  watch  and  the  stone  but  the  baneful  insect 
under  the  stone,  and  the  thief  who  dropped  the  stolen 
watch  as  he  ran,  would  all  have  had  to  be  examined  in 
the    same    narrow    way,    with    varying    result.       This 
Paleyan  method  of  calling  isolated  witness  could  never 
demonstrate    Paley's    preconceived    God    unless    with 
careful  selection  of  the  witnesses.     The  vital  question 
is,    What    are    the    character    and    testimony    of    the 
Whole  ?     To  ask  this  question  is,  however,  to  rescue 
the   conception   of  design  from    the    stiff,    calculating, 
carpenter-like    method    of    the    Paleyan    mind;    it    is 
to  surrender  the  conception  of  a  predetermined  pro- 
gramme of  creation,  every  detail  of  which  is  knowable 
in  advance  and  specifically  planned,  and  to  substitute 
in    its  place  the  thought    of   an    energising    Principle 
which  works  persistently  and  reasonably,  yet  spontane- 
ously,  and    which    gradually    realises    an    aim    whose 
tendency  is,  at  any  rate  in  part,  perceptible  to  finite 
minds.     The  older  conception  still  remains  with  us  in 
part,  because  human  life  exists  under  the  conditions  of 
a  time  process,  but  it  is  inapplicable  to  a  God  whose 
creative  activity  is  continuous  and  timeless. 

With  regard  to  the  cosmic  process  as  a  whole,  then, 

we  cannot  agree  with  any  certainty.      How  could  we 

indicate    purpose    in    the    heavens  ?      They    bear    the 

1  See  p.  127. 

256 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

marks  of  intelligence,  but  we  may  well  believe  that  the 
purpose  is  too  great  for  us  to  understand.  Perhaps 
the  modern  study  of  astronomy  shows  us  more  and 
more  of  intelligence,  and  less  and  less  of  purpose  such 
as  we  can  yet  comprehend.  When  we  consider  the 
heat  and  light  radiating  from  our  sun  in  such  endless 
profusion  to  all  points  of  the  universal  compass,  our 
finite  minds  tend  to  ask,  To  what  purpose  is  this  waste  ? 
The  Mosaic  cosmology  tells  how  God  "  made  the  two 
great  lights  ;  the  greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the 
lesser  light  to  rule  the  night,"  but  at  that  point  the 
sacred  writer's  perception  of  a  purpose  seems  to  halt, 
and  he  simply  adds,  "  He  made  the  stars  also."  ^ 
Accordingly  we  shall  limit  the  inquiry  for  the  present 
to  the  realm  of  the  organic  and  the  inorganic  as  we 
know  them  on  that  planet  which  if  not  the  centre  of 
the  universe  is  at  any  rate  our  centre,  whose  history  is 
our  history.  What  is  true  of  the  part  may  not  be  true 
of  the  whole,  but  it  is  something  to  be  sure  of  the 
character  of  the  part  that  we  do  know.  The  question 
is  whether  the  process  as  we  know  it  betrays  purpose, 
guidance,  direction  ? 

So  far  as  the  denial  of  this  is  sometimes  indirectly 
based  on  the  supposed  findings  of  scientific  research,  it 
is  not  merely  necessary  to  realise  that  her  account  of 
phenomena  is  not  merely  an  incomplete  account,  but 
that  the  strictly  scientific  account  often  contains  implicit 
within  it  more  than  the  expositor  realised  or  even  in 
some  cases  intended  or  desired :  indeed,  in  these 
respects  he  is  often  hoist  with  his  own  petard.  For 
example,  if    we    consider  for    a   moment    the  famous 

1  Gen.  i.  i6.  It  is  perhaps  only  fair  to  state  that  the  Old  Testament  critic 
considers  the  words  "  He  made  the  stars  also  "  to  be  a  gloss  (of.  Skinner, 
Commentary  oti  Genesis,  in  loc), — which  illustrates  the  difficulties  of 
Biblical  interpretation. 

R  257 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Spencerian  formula,  "  Evolution  is  a  passage  of  matter 
from  an  indefinite  incoherent  homogeneity  ...  to  a 
definite  coherent  heterogeneity,"  not  merely  do  we 
never  get  any  actual  passage  or  specification  ^  under  it, 
but  even  as  we  think  the  sequence  of  stages  of  this 
passage  backward  in  their  causal  relationship  we  never 
reach  a  stage  that  is  strictly  indefinite,  as  ex  hypothesi 
it  is  sufficiently  definite  to  act  as  cause  to  its  immediate 
successor.  Further,  we  never  actually  get  a  hint  of  a 
homogeneity  out  of  which,  even  if  it  did  exist,  no 
heterogeneity  could  arise.  The  constitution  of  the  all- 
comprising  nebula  at  any  given  moment — to  take  a 
favourite  Spencerian  illustration  from  the  inorganic 
realm — must  have  been  just  as  specific  and  definitely 
organised  as  any  of  the  later  and  more  complex 
phenomena  resulting  from  its  transformation  and 
differentiation.  To  Spencer's  mind,  matter  wherever 
it  exists  in  a  homogeneous  mass,  e.g.  the  primal  nebula, 
is  of  necessity  unstable  and  cannot  remain  homo- 
geneous. As  a  matter  of  fact,  inasmuch  as  we  are 
unaware  of  matter  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  allied  with 
energy — the  modern  physicist  interprets  one  in  terms  of 
the  other — this  primal  homogeneity  of  constitution  and 
relationship  is  a  mere  figment  of  the  imagination.  In 
fact,  Spencer  admits  that  at  whatever  point  we  choose 
to  think  of  evolution  as  commencing,  that  change  was 
necessitated  by  what  went  before,  and  there  "  remains 
to  be  added  the  conclusion  that  these  changes  (thus 
initiated)  must  continuer  ^  Or,  in  other  words,  evolu- 
tion itself  is  determined  by  some  preceding  definite 
heterogeneity,  and  all  that  is  developed  at  any  stage 
was  implicit  in  the  preceding  stage.      But  this  leaves 

^  Such  e.g.  as  you  get  in  connection  with  every  building  under  the  law 
of  gravitation. 

2  First  Principles,  p.  429. 

258 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

us  with  the  question,  which  is  indeed  there  at  every 
stage,  To  what  is  due  that  particular  heterogeneity, 
that  definite  arrangement  of  matter  and  energy  that 
at  any  stage  contains  impHcit  within  it  all  that  follows? 
This  question  Spencer  never  answers. 

What,  then,  is  offered  to  us  in  the  name  of  much 
modern  philosophy  of  science  is  a  series  apparently 
now,  sub  specie  eternitatis,  interminable,  a^  b,  c,  d,  .  .  . 
in  which  we  come  to  think  of  a  as  the  cause  of  by 
of  b  as  giving  rise  to  c,  and  so  on.  Strictly,  however, 
we  do  not  know  that  b  will  follow  a  in  any  particular 
case :  we  only  believe  it.  And,  further,  the  deduction 
so  frequently  made  that  all  that  is  in  b  is  implicit  in 
a  and  so  on,  is  simply  untrue  in  the  case  of  the 
developing  organism  if  we  consider  the  letters  as 
representing  successive  stages  in  its  ontogeny,  for  at 
every  moment  that  development  is  in  vital  dependence 
on  the  environment.  In  short,  there  is  much  misuse 
of  the  word  "  cause."  Physical  cause  differs  from 
ef^cient  cause.  Into  the  conception  of  scientific  cause 
enters  only  the  idea  that  things  affect  one  another 
in  definite  ways.  In  a  true  cause  we  find  an  element 
of  volition,  and  in  all  creation  this  is  the  principal 
element.  Nothing,  then,  of  volition  enters  into  natural 
law  per  se,  although  in  the  objective  world  natural 
law  might  be  held  to  be  a  true  cause,  volition  always 
being  excluded.  But  then  in  human  life  volition  is 
the  only  true  cause.  We  may  learn  perfectly  the 
order  of  changes,  and  yet  learn  nothing  as  to  why 
they  occur  in  that  particular  order.  The  infinite 
regress  affords  no  resting-place  for  the  tired  mind : 
it  wants  to  know  the  character  of  the  creative  energy 
that  it  perceives  to  be  at  work  in  the  world  process. 
Looking,  however,  at  the  series  in  its  most  general 
form,    what    we    have    to    determine    is    whether    the 

259 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

particular  form   that   the  series    takes    is    a  matter  of 
chance  or  of  definite  direction. 

That  it  is  matter  of  chance,  as  the  answer  given 
e.s^.  by  the  Haeckelian-Spencerian  school,  does  not 
bear  careful  examination.  The  indefinite  tossing  of 
a  coin  by  the  unconsciously  adjusting  and  compensating 
human  hand  may  in  accordance  with  theory  result 
in  an  equal  number  of  heads  and  tails :  thrown  by 
an  accurate  constant  machine,  the  coin  may  be  com- 
pelled to  manifest  its  bias,  and  it  is  possible  that  the 
succession  might  be  tails  ad  infinitum.  All  linear 
series  of  phenomena,  in  space  of  one  dimension  as 
it  were,  are  from  this  point  of  view  mechanical,  causal, 
and  sequential :  the  element  of  chance  is  ruled  out. 
Any  interplay  or  striking  result  arising  from  the 
impinging  of  horizontal  series  in  space  of  two 
dimensions  as  it  were,  is  a  coincidence  and  due  to 
chance.  In  1871  two  companies  of  men  began 
tunnelling  towards  one  another  on  either  side  of  the 
St.  Gothard  Pass :  ten  years  later  they  met.  In 
terms  of  this  philosophy  the  linear  drills  were 
mechanical  and  causal :  the  fact  that  they  met  was 
chance.  Here,  of  course,  the  cause  is  found  ultimately 
in  the  mind  of  the  planning  and  directing  engineer: 
the  question  is  why  it  should  be  otherwise  in  the 
case  of  these  convergences  in  Nature  that  at  least 
wear  the  guise  of  ends.  On  examination,  at  any  rate, 
it  becomes  clear  that  chance  in  Nature  and  in  pitch 
and  toss,  in  the  life  of  the  animal  and  of  the  spirit, 
does  not  really  exist  as  such,  but  is  simply  a  word 
used  to  describe  that  of  which  the  causes  are  not 
known  to  the  observer  in  their  entirety :  it  can  never 
amount  to  saying  that  they  were  not  due  to  purpose, — 
in  fact,  it  includes  that  possibility. 

Science,   then,   offers   us   her   account   of  the  world 
260 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

process  in  complex  series  of  sequences,  but  if  we  are 
to  be  certain  in  our  deductions  as  to  what  lies  behind 
the  process,  if  we  are  to  trace  backwards  each  step 
systematically  until  we  come  to  that  which  we  may 
think  determined  the  process,  if  we  are  to  be  effective 
in  our  examination  of  its  purposefulness  or  otherwise, 
we  shall  have  to  be  very  sure  that  we  are  investigating 
the  whole  of  the  process.  If  Science  can  argue  back 
from  what  is  to  what  has  been,  and  venture  to  predict 
what  will  be  from  what  is,  it  is  essential  that  she 
understand  fully  and  completely  what  is.  And  it 
is  just  here  that  the  doubt  is  greatest  as  to  her  success, 
and  often  in  direct  proportion  to  the  incompleteness 
of  her  account  is  a  certain  studied  disregard  and 
contempt — in  itself  so  contrary  to  the  true  scientific 
spirit — for  anything  that  cannot  be  fitted  into  the 
network  of  relations  and  uniformities  as  known  at  any 
definite  period  in  history,  as  also  for  any  suggestion  of 
implications  of  a  wider  nature  than  those  which  the 
surface  view  of  the  data  affords.  It  is  essential  that 
Science  understand  fully  and  completely  what  is.  If 
any  attempt  be  made  e.g.  at  elucidating  the  evolution 
of  morality  or  the  causes  that  produce  it,  then  that 
account  must  not  commence  with  the  morality  of 
the  bushmen,  but  with  morality  as  we  know  it  at 
its  highest  and  best.  Working  backwards,  the  in- 
vestigating mind  will  never  discover  a  stage  in  which 
there  was  not  active  determination  and  specification, 
pattern  and  power.  The  scientific  mind  may  break 
in  at  any  moment  with  a  formula,  and  state  that 
under  certain  conditions  in  terms  of  that  formula  the 
whole  world  process  can  be  explained.  One  thing 
the  formula  cannot  do,  viz.,  explain  itself 

If  now   we   consider   the    question    on    its   positive 
side,   we   find    our  initial    reason    for   believing  in  the 

261 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

existence  of  a  World  Principle  in  the  simple  fact 
of  the  unity  and  intelligibility  of  the  universe.  The 
proof  of  the  unity  of  the  World  Principle  must  start 
from  a  system.  The  universe,  we  maintain,  is  such 
a  system.  Every  thing  is  what  it  is,  in  part  because 
things  are  as  they  are  in  other  places.  We  deduce 
this  by  reason :  it  is  not  a  matter  of  experience. 
Science  posits  a  dynamic  relation  between  things. 
Things  determine  one  another ;  they  interact ;  we 
find  a  law  of  uniformity  of  action.  These  facts  make 
the  world  an  object  of  knowledge :  Nature  as  a  system 
is  a  cognitive  ideal.  And  yet  the  whole  creative 
arch  was  not  sprung  at  once.  Consequently,  if  one 
of  the  elements  of  the  solar  system  should  disappear, 
it  would  not  mean  the  collapse  of  the  system.  If  the 
moon  should  disappear,  perhaps  the  tides  would  be  less, 
the  days  shorter,  the  nights  darker ;  otherwise  there 
would  be  adjustment, — an  indication  of  essential  unity. 
That  the  intelligibility  of  the  universe  is  partial  only 
is  nothing  to  the  point ;  the  mere  fact  that  the  world 
process  whether  in  detail  or  as  a  whole  is  susceptible 
of  being  understood,  however  imperfectly,  seems 
resoluble  only  in  one  of  three  ways.  We  may  suppose 
that  this  intelligibility  is  a  chance  accompaniment,  a 
sort  of  epiphenomenon,  of  what  is  ex  hypothesi  a  non- 
rational  process  :  to  believe  this  involves  an  irrational 
reversal  of  all  experience.  Again,  we  may  maintain, 
as  has  often  been  done,  that  the  intelligibility  and  so 
the  rationality  that  man  finds  in  the  world  process  are 
simply  the  projection  of  his  own  reason  into  it.  I 
do  not  know  if  a  lunatic's  philosophy  would  interpret  the 
world  process  as  chaotic — a  reflection  of  his  disordered 
mind ;  if  so,  it  might  be  difficult  to  differentiate 
between  the  diagnosed  lunatic  and  him  who  professes 
to   find    no   objective   order   in    the   world    process   as 

262 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

a  whole.  It  may  be  perfectly  true  that  our  minds 
have  to  some  extent  adapted  themselves  to  this 
universe,  and  that  on  such  adaptation  depends  human 
existence,  yet  we  have  the  idea  of  unreason,  and 
we  can  realise  that  self-conscious  life  would  not  be 
possible  in  a  universe  that  was  unintelligible  to  us. 
Finally,  we  may  maintain  that  the  universe  is  in- 
telligible to  us  simply  because  behind  and  within  its 
phenomenal  activity  there  is  something  akin  to  the 
human  mind.  To  the  casual  customer  the  ceaseless 
vagaries  of  the  telegraphic  needle  convey  no  meaning, 
representing  merely  "  sound  and  fury  signifying  nothing," 
but  to  the  operator  they  are  burdened  with  significance  ; 
yet  the  moving  index  reveals  even  to  him  no  image 
of  his  fellow-worker  at  the  other  end.  It  simply 
indicates  his  mind,  and  the  message  is  intelligible  just 
because  it  is  an  expression  of  a  mind,  and  the  in- 
telligibility implies  some  sort  of  a  relation  between 
the  minds  at  either  end  of  the  wire.  The  analogy 
is  remote,  for  after  all  the  telegraphic  apparatus  is 
but  a  static  vehicle  of  energy.  Still  the  phenomena 
of  Nature,  symbols  significant  of  something  which  we 
cannot  fully  understand  with  our  limited  senses,  and 
impotent  to  give  us  any  measurably  complete  account 
of  the  World  Principle  itself,  are  interpretable  just 
because  there  is  this  element  of  Intelligence  in  it,  which 
has  been  and  is  related  to  our  intelligence.  In  other 
words,  Infinite  Mind  exists  and  is  related  to  our 
mind. 

When,  further,  we  inquire  into  the  character  of  that 
intelligibility,  we  find  that  it  takes  the  form  of  Order. 
We  note  the  qualitative  and  quantitative  adjustment 
of  all  things  according  to  law.  The  ordinances  of  the 
world  stand  fast ;  the  power  that  supports  it,  of  which 
it    is    an    expression,    shows    no    variableness,  neither 

263 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning.  This  sustained 
order,  the  fact  that  the  process  is  intelligible  all  along, 
seems  to  involve  the  conclusion  that  its  continuous 
meaning  must  be  meant.  A  momentary  intelligibility 
might  not  necessarily  have  implied  a  creative  mind. 
It  is  not  inconceivable  that  the  indefinitely  repeated 
mechanical  sorting  of  millions  of  alphabetical  letters 
might  sometime  produce  that  particular  arrangement 
of  letters  and  words  which  men  would  recognise  as 
Paracelsus,  but  the  next  arrangement  would  be  com- 
plete chaos,  and  even  if,  by  the  ultimate  chance,  it 
were  not,  and  The  Pickwick  Papers  instead  fell  out, 
yet  the  lack  of  relationship  between  it  and  succeeding 
and  even  preceding  results  would  foil  all  understand- 
ing. Chance  is  incapable  of  producing  continuity  ; 
sustained  order  is  an  index  of  Reason.  If  the  order 
of  Nature  which  we  do  find  does  not  involve  the 
existence  of  God,  the  disorder  which  we  do  not  find 
would  have  amply  disproved  the  hypothesis. 

In  any  case,  the  explanation  of  Nature,  even  as  an 
unconsciously  working  mechanism  arbitrary  and  blind 
in  its  groping,  is  very  difficult  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
it  has  produced  self-consciousness  and  intelligence  in 
man, — the  mirror  in  which  she  in  a  sense  can  regard 
herself  Either  we  must  admit  that  the  scientific 
examination  of  the  origin  of  the  human  reason  results 
in  postulating  an  irrational  cause  for  it — as  it  might 
be  supposed  to  do  on  reduction  of  that  reason  to  a 
dance  of  atoms — and  there  we  leave  the  problem, 
committing  ourselves,  however,  to  a  gigantic  act  of 
faith  in  assuming  the  trustworthiness  of  the  scientific 
reason,  and  too  apt  to  forget  that  we  are  reaching 
these  very  conclusions  by  the  self-same  faculty  of 
postulated  irrational  origin  ;  or  we  must  investigate 
more  deeply,  seeking  the  cause  of  whatever  sequences 

264 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

we  find — even  if  they  apparently  result  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  rational  from  the  non-rational — in  some 
rational  World  Principle  whose  operations  take  for  us 
the  form  of  natural  laws.  The  one  faculty,  we  repeat, 
by  which  alone  man  judges  natural  process  was  derived 
in  the  course  of  the  working  of  that  process,  and  yet 
it  is  maintained  that  the  process  shows  nothing  that 
is  akin  to  mind,  intelligence,  or  reason  in  it.  This 
cannot  be  asserted  in  so  far  as  it  means  that  the 
process  is  less  than  rational ;  in  so  far  as  it  may  be 
taken  to  mean  that  the  process  is  informed  by  some 
Principle  displaying  intelligence  vastly  superior  to  the 
human  mind,  we  come  within  hailing  distance  of  theistic 
interpretation. 

V^ith  the  strictly  teleological  aspect,  fresh  considera- 
tions arise.  Particularly  in  the  organic  world  do  we 
find  to  a  striking  degree  what  appear  to  be  instances 
of  anticipatory  adaptation.  Indeed,  adaptability  itself 
almost  seems  indicative  of  purpose.  In  the  case  of 
individual  development  there  is  not  merely  suggestion 
of  the  past,  as  in  the  stranded  "erratic"  on  the 
mountain-side,  but  anticipation  of  the  future.  Where 
such  adaptation  is  lacking,  and  mere  causal  physico- 
chemical  sequences  take  place  in  their  own  narrowly 
predictable  manner,  we  know  that  the  organism  is 
dead.  In  the  case  of  organic  bodies  we  see  a  process 
pointing  to  future  results, — a  prophecy  of  the  future,  at 
least  an  appearance  of  design.  We  are  not  deceived 
by  the  crystal ;  we  know  how  it  works  and  grows,  so 
that  this  hint  of  design  is  not  a  mere  anthropomorphism. 
In  the  case  of  the  alum  crystals  there  is  no  prophecy, 
simply  a  present  realisation  of  a  present  force. 

That  such  a  contingency  is  recognised  even  by 
the  biologist  may  be  gleaned  from  his  continual 
references    to    what    is     sometimes    technically    called 

265 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE  i 

orthogenesis.     The   term   is   used    to    express   the   ap-  j 
parent    initial    predetermination    of  lines    of  variation  ' 
apart    from    natural    selection,   which    makes    an    ever-  ' 
growing    appeal    to    the    biological    mind,   and   to  the  ■ 
palaeontologists  in  particular.      It  occurs  in  all  degrees,  j 
abintrally    and    abextrally,   from    Korschinsky's   state-  ! 
ment   that  "  in  order   to  explain  the  origin  of  higher  | 
forms  out  of  lower  it    is  necessary  to  assume  in  the  | 
organism   a  special    tendency    towards    progress,"^   to  ' 
Elmer's    sounder     views    that    "  variation     everywhere  I 
takes  place  in   quite  definite  directions  which  are  few 
in  number,"  and   that  "  the  causes  which  lead  to  the 
formation  of  new  characters  in  organisms,  and   in   the    .       ! 
last  result  to  their  evolution,  consist  essentially   in  the  j 
chemico-physiological   interaction  between  the  material 
composition  of  the  body  and  external  influences."  ^  1 
Of   positive    evidence  of   orthogenesis  in   ontogeny  i 
reference  may  be  made  to  a  paper  by  Bashford  Dean,^ 
in    which    he    states     his    belief   that    the     adaptation 
between  the  embryo   and   its  egg-case  in  Chimsera  can  | 
only   be  explained  on   the  basis   of  determinate  modi- 
fication.     The    substance  of   the  capsule  or  egg-case,  j 
although  "  only  indirectly  connected  with  the  egg,  z>.,  | 
as    a     secretion     formed     by     the     parent     after     the  i 
mechanism   of    heredity   has    already   been   established  j 
in    the   ^g^,  nevertheless   (i)  'foresees'  with    startling 
exactness  the  size  and   shape   of  the  young  fish  when 
many  months  hence  it  comes  to  hatch  out,  and  (2)  it  1 
provides  a  series  of  progressive  modifications   adapted 
to  the   developing   physiological    needs    of  the  young.  j 

i 

^  "  Heterogenesis  and  Evolution,"  Naturwiss.  Woe  hens  ch  rift,  vol.  xiv.  , 
pp.  273-278,  1899. 

'  Organic  Evolution,  p.  4. 

3  <♦  Evolution  in  a  Determinate  Line,  as  illustrated  by  the  Egg-Cases  of  , 

Chimaeroid  Fishes,"  Biol.  Bull.  vol.  vii.  pp.  105-112.  \ 

266  i 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

It  is  evident,  accordingly,  that  if  natural  selection  be 
adduced  to  explain  the  present  phenomena,  it 
encounters  difficulties  more  numerous  and  complex 
than  in  usual  instances.  In  the  latter  cases  selection 
concerns  itself  with  variations  which  affect  the  pro- 
geny directly ;  but  in  the  present  case  variations  must 
have  occurred  in  the  lines  both  of  the  progeny  and, 
indirectly,  of  its  far  less  individual  capsule-forming 
capabilities — with  the  result  that  a  succession  of  closely 
correlated  stages  in  variation  must  have  coincided  in 
both  distinct  directions." 

From  the  phylogenetic  viewpoint  similar  con- 
clusions are  drawn  by  workers  in  very  different 
departments.  Thus  Sir  E.  Ray  Lankester  is  impelled 
to  state  that  "the  conclusion  that  man  is  a  part  of 
Nature  is  by  no  means  equivalent  to  asserting  that  he 
has  originated  by  *  blind  chance ' ;  it  is  in  fact  a 
specific  assertion  that  he  is  the  predestined  outcome 
of  an  orderly — and  to  a  large  extent  perceptible — 
mechanism."  ^  H.  F.  Osborn,  in  an  Essay  on  Darwin 
and  Palaeontology,^  maintains  that  the  evidence  from 
palaeontology  "  replaces  the  law  of  chance  by  another 
law,  namely,  that  as  in  the  domain  of  inorganic  nature, 
so  in  the  domain  of  organic  r\2XviX^  foi^tuity  is  wanting; 
and  the  fit  originates  in  many  hard  parts  of  the  body 
through  laws  which  are  in  the  main  similar  to  growth 
— laws  the  modes  of  which  we  see  and  measure,  the 
causes  of  which  we  do  not  and  may  never  understand, 
but  nevertheless  laws  and  not  fortuities  or  chance 
happenings."  Finally,  Dr.  A.  Smith  Woodward  in  his 
presidential  address  to  the  Geological  Section  of  the 
British  Association  ^  makes   this  suggestive  admission  : 

^  The  Kingdom  of  Man,  p.  9. 

^  Fifty  Years  of  Darwinis7n,  ^.  22$.     Italics  in  original. 
3  B.A.  Report  for  igog,  p.  463. 
267 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

**  Amongst  these  general  features  which  have  been 
made  clear  by  the  latest  systematic  researches,  I  wish 
especially  to  emphasise  the  interest  and  significance 
of  the  persistent  progress  of  life  to  a  higher  plane, 
which  we  observe  during  the  successive  geological 
periods.  For  I  think  palaeontologists  are  now  gener- 
ally agreed  that  there  is  some  principle  underlying 
this  progress  much  more  fundamental  than  chance- 
variation  or  response  to  environment,  however  much 
these  phenomena  may  have  contributed  to  certain 
minor  adaptations."  Such  statements,  when  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  the  insufficiency  of  other  factors 
to  account  for  the  facts,  suggest  recognition  of  what  at 
at  any  rate  looks  like  direction. 

The  essential  element,  then,  in  the  individual  and 
racial  series  alike  is  the  prophetic  hint,  the  co-operant 
travail,  the  concurrent  conditions,  the  convergence 
seemingly  towards  an  end.  Even  under  the  frankly 
utilitarian  explanation  offered  in  natural  selection,  the 
question  inevitably  arises  in  each  case.  Utility  for 
what?  Why  does  the  crustacean  cast  its  carapace? 
Adaptation,  wonderful  in  itself  so  far  as  present 
conditions  are  concerned,  becomes  deeply  significant 
when  expressed,  e.g.,  in  the  reproductive  parts  of 
organisms.  The  question  becomes  peculiarly  insistent 
in  face  of  the  fact  of  variation  occurring  in  a  process 
capable  of  using  it  for  a  progressive  growth.  It  is 
only  intellect  in  some  form  that  prepares  for  the 
future ;  mechanism  acts  only  in  the  present.  We  may 
realise  that  phenomena  come  under  law  ;  perhaps  we 
may  even  find  in  the  implications  of  the  fact  of  law  a 
partial  explanation  of  the  phenomena.  But  certainly 
we  are  not  entitled  to  deny  the  presence  of  design 
simply  because  we  see  that  phenomena  come  under 
law.     How  is  a  thing  done  ?    and,  What  does  it  mean  ? 

268 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

are  two  very  different  questions.  We  can  say  about 
everything:  It  is  law;  yet  if  there  are  final  causes 
there  must  be  efficient  causes,  and  the  latter  imply 
purpose — purpose  which  is  not  an  element  in  the 
causal  series  but  represents  the  particular  combination 
of  the  elements.  Now,  in  the  case  of  every  activity 
that  we  actually  know  to  express  purpose,  we  can  also 
trace  law  and  mechanism  in  it.  Accordingly,  when 
we  find  law  and  mechanism  on  a  great  scale  with 
progressive  results  which  look  as  if  purpose  were  in 
them,  the  fact  of  the  presence  of  law  and  mechanism 
cannot  exclude  the  conception  of  purpose  ;  in  fact,  the 
probability  is  all  the  other  way. 

That  the  slowness  of  the  convergence  may  obscure 
the  end  so  that  we  may  even  fail  to  appreciate  the 
possibility  of  an  "  increasing  purpose "  is   not  remark- 
able.     We  miss   the  end  sometimes  because  our  eyes 
are    riveted    on    some    single    feature   that    does    not 
harmonise  with  our  preconceived  ideas.     As  we  wander 
through  the  woods  in  the  after-coolness  of  a  thunder- 
storm, we  pause  abruptly  before  an  isolated  record  of 
its  trail   and    ask    ourselves.   Why    did    the    lightning 
destroy  that  little  tree?      We  Hmit  our  conception  of 
the  energy  at  work  to  that  particular  instance,  forget- 
ting that  the  power  that  designs  a  cell  is  not  exhausted 
in  the  cell,  and  is  making  an  infinite  number  of  other 
cells.      The  one  thing  we  are  looking  at  is    not    the 
whole  product  of  the  Infinite  Energy ;  it  is  acting  else- 
where at  the  same  time.     And  yet  we  are  not  wholly 
satisfied.     Might  it  not  all  have  been  done  some  other 
way  ?      How  do  we  know  that  things  could  have  been 
done  in  some  other,  e.g.  some  shorter,  way  ?      Time,  at 
any  rate,  in   itself,  does  nothing.      It  is  not  time  that 
makes  our  hair  grey.     Change  does  not  take  time ;  it 
makes    time.      The  only  efficiency  is  the  agency  ex- 

269 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

pressing  itself  in    phenomena.      Time    assuredly    does 
not  derogate  from  purpose. 

We  may  agree,  then,  that  if  the  world  process  had 
been  due  to  chance,  we  might  have  had  other  possi- 
bilities of  development,  yet  we  have  but  one  way,  and 
that  so  wonderful  that  at  various  points  it  seems  to  us  as 
if  it  had  been  designed.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that 
the  fact  that  the  World  Principle  acts  as  if  it  had  plans 
and  purposes  does  not  prove  that  it  really  has  them. 
But  as  Professor  Borden  Bowne  clearly  brings  out,^  in 
reality  all  objective  knowledge  is  ultimately  based  on 
an  "  as  if."  We  do  not  know  that  the  sedimentary 
rocks  are  deposited  under  water,  but  only  that  they 
look  "as  if"  they  had  been.  We  know  that  our  fellow- 
beings  have  minds  only  because  they  act  "as  if"  they 
had  them,  i.e.  because  their  actions  indicate  order  and 
purpose.  "  In  short,  the  argument  for  objective  in- 
telligence is  the  same  whether  for  man,  animals,  or 
God,"^  and  it  is  equally  good  for  all.  The  surmise 
that  Nature  mimics  purpose  is  but  a  play  upon  our 
ignorance, — a  play,  however,  that  does  not  deceive  us 
when  we  come  to  deal  with  ourselves.  The  great 
mass  of  men  are  conscious  of  themselves  as  agents  of 
purposive  action  in  a  universe  that  responds  to  their 
intercourse  with  it,  and  of  which  they  are  an  integral 
part,  and  believe  themselves  to  be  rational  simply 
because  they  are  in  continual  relation  to  a  rationally 
constituted  and  conducted  cosmos.  In  this  world 
which  is  not  a  multiverse,  but  a  universe,  shot  through 
and  through  with  the  same  basal  principles,  erected 
throughout  on  the  same  broad  foundation  lines,  we 
may  be  sure  that  what  appears  to  us  as  purpose  in 
the  realms  below  that  of  humanity,  if  not  the  expression 
of  the  elements  of  these  particular  orders,  is  yet  the 

^  Theism,  p.  no.  ^  Op.  cit.  p.  112. 

270 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

expression  of  a  will,  a  freewill  that  is  behind  and  in 
them  all. 

And  these  considerations  touch  the  heart  of  our 
argument.  For  we  realise,  in  the  first  place,  that  we 
have  minds,  and  that  we  are  a  part,  products  of  the 
universe,  so  that  in  some  way  mind  is  related  to  the 
universe.  At  a  certain  stage  in  the  onward  sweep  of 
this  vast  process,  mind  draws  into  organic  being ;  as 
a  result,  there  is  greater  adaptation  on  the  part  of  the 
mind -informed  individual.  But  the  process  itself  must 
be  something  greater  than  this  which  appears  as  an 
aspect  of  it,  even  if  in  that  aspect  it  becomes  conscious, 
so  to  speak,  of  itself.  Further,  that  universe  is  a  unity, 
and  it  is  therefore  improbable  that  that  larger  part  of 
it  which  we  do  not  see  or  know  stands  in  any  essential 
contradiction  to  that  part  which  we  do  see  and  know. 
Man  certainly  is  capable  of  directive  action  upon 
matter,  yet  he  is  not  independent  of  it.  Man,  the 
growing  point  of  progressive  life,  is  conscious  of 
directive  control.  Spirit  has  had  from  the  beginning 
some  constant  and  natural  relation  to  matter.  It  is 
there  and  at  work.  It  and  matter  may  be  merely  two 
aspects  of  the  same  thing,  but  it  is  there,  directing  and 
controlling  as  we  know  it  directs  and  controls  in  the 
case  most  completely  known  to  us — the  human  person- 
ality. So  far  as  we  grasp  the  fact  that  we  are  a  part 
of  Nature, — thus  abolishing  the  convenient  though 
false  distinction  between  artificial  and  natural,  inas- 
much as  all  the  works  of  man  are  natural  works, — so 
much  the  easier  will  it  be  for  us  to  realise  the  possi- 
bility of  spiritual  and  directive  control  in  the  world 
not  merely  of  life,  but  in  the  realm  of  matter.  Reduce 
everything,  if  it  be  possible,  to  the  physico-chemical 
level :  in  association  with  these  elements  spirit  has  at  a 
certain  level  appeared — the  human  spirit  in  particular, 

271 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

which  in  all  its  achievements  is  purposive.  We  are 
aware  of  purpose  in  ourselves.  We  are  conscious  of 
being  influenced  by  ideals  that  are  borne  in  on  us,  in 
virtue  of  which  we  strive  and  sacrifice.  Sometimes  we 
feel  ourselves  as  instruments  in  the  hands  of  a  power 
"  not  ourselves,  which  makes  for  righteousness." 
Righteousness,  at  any  rate,  is  made :  and  as  we  realise 
the  full  dramatic  sweep  of  the  evolutionary  process 
from  its  beginnings  to  the  ideals  that  dominate  the 
minds  that  are  noblest,  it  is  not  easy  to  say  that  all 
this  has  merely  fallen  out. 

When  we  look  back  and  see  the  stages  by  which 
the  earth  was  better  fitted  to  serve  as  the  environment 
for  life,  when  we  become  aware  of  the  various  phases 
in  the  evolution  of  life  as  characterised  by  higher 
and  higher  individuation,  with  continual  increase  of 
significance  and  apparent  movement  towards  an  end, 
when  we  ask  ourselves  why  the  surviving  species, 
being  the  only  ones  that  could  survive  under  the 
very  definite  conditions  of  their  survival,  are  on  the 
whole  higher  species,  we  find  it  difficult  to  get  away 
from  the  idea  of  a  scheme  of  progress  which  in 
its  continuity  is  purpose.  And  when  finally  we  are 
aware  of  ourselves  as  men,  the  temporary  culmination 
of  the  movement  which  we  can  foresee  will  yet  endlessly 
progress,  our  bodies,  the  earth  itself  falling  away  as  the 
now  unnecessary  scaffolding  of  a  life  that  is  spiritual, 
when  we  are  aware  of  ourselves  as  minds  comprehending 
the  process  and  realising  it  as  having  this  particular 
character,  we  are  tempted  to  ask  not  merely.  Was  it 
worth  while?  but  we  can  suggest  that  in  the  creation 
of  human  personality  we  can  not  unreasonably  discern 
the  temporary  goal  of  the  world's  development,  and  so 
can  speak  of  that  development  as  purposive.  On  such 
a  view  death  is  no  more  the  end  of  the  individual's 

272 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

life  than  the  moment  of  birth  is  the  commencement  of 
his  life ;  both  are  mere  changes  of  environment.  The 
ideal  of  which  we  become  aware  is  interpreted  by  us 
as  a  purpose  higher  and  greater  than  ourselves  which 
is  working  in  us  and  has  been  working  all  through  the 
stages  that  led  up  to  us.  In  our  human  lives  this 
supreme  purpose  becomes  conscious  for  the  first  time 
to  other  than  the  Eternal  Mind.  They  live  most 
highly  who  most  wholly  assist  and  are  nearest  to  it 
in  thought  and  activity, — its  most  perfect  instruments. 
Yet  they  are  a  part  of  Nature,  there  is  no  break,  and 
it  is  contrary  to  all  analogy  to  suppose  that  that  same 
purpose  has  not  been  working  through  all  the  pre- 
ceding stages.  Man  can  consciously  assist  it,  and 
so  it  works  more  rapidly  to-day,  but  that  it  was 
not  in  the  earlier  stages  is  the  more  difficult  thesis 
to  establish ;  not  to  believe  in  its  existence  in  these 
earlier  stages  leaves  us  with  a  break,  a  miracle  of 
unbelief. 

Further,  this  purpose — if  it  be  such — can  exist 
only  in  or  for  a  mind,  the  Divine  Mind,  immanent  and 
operative  in  Nature,  feeling  and  working  its  way,  as 
it  were,  to  perfect  self-expression  and  self-realisation. 
Now  the  interpretation  of  Nature  reveals  an  orderly 
and  broadly  progressive  evolutionary  process,  and  the 
patient  researcher  is  never  put  to  final  intellectual 
confusion,  as  would  be  his  experience  were  the 
Universe  a  chaos  instead  of  a  cosmos.  On  the 
contrary,  every  stage  in  the  adaptation  of  the  human 
mind  to  Ultimate  Reality  has  brought  with  it  a 
corresponding  unmasking  of  that  Reality,  whereby 
the  partial  illusions  of  previous  stages  have  been 
corrected. 

We  repeat,  then,  that  in  human  activity — in  its 
history  and  society  which  are  themselves  a  part,  the 
s  273 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

outcome  of  the  cosmic  process — we  find  a  clue  to  the 
whole,  since  we  cannot  leave  that  out  which  seems  to 
be  the  temporary  culmination  of  the  process  in  which 
it  is  so  deeply  rooted  ;  for  while  of  only  a  small  part 
of  our  past  do  we  make  use  at  any  moment  when  we 
think,  it  is  as  the  result  of  the  whole  of  it  that  we  are. 
Human  life,  as  lived  on  its  noblest  plane,  is  full  of 
meaning, — contains  a  meaning,  not  fully  clear,  indeed, 
but  still  the  mainspring  of  most  human  endeavour. 
To  conceive  of  the  whole  process  as  purposive  is 
indeed  to  transfer  to  the  whole  the  character  of  the 
part,  but  much  of  the  difficulty  in  this  seemingly 
illogical  transference  will  disappear  when  we  represent 
to  ourselves  what  is  involved  in  the  magnitude  and 
complexity  of  that  whole — the  association,  e.g.,  of  the 
living  with  elements  in  which  Life  never  was  mani- 
fested or  has  ceased  to  manifest  itself,  and  which 
will  therefore  not  so  clearly  or  directly  manifest 
purpose. 

Further,  what  we  know  to  be  true  of  the  part — for 
it  is  impossible  to  eliminate  the  conceptions  of  intelli- 
gence and  reason  from  human  life — looks  as  if  it  were 
true  of  the  whole,  and  the  hypothesis  works.  For 
man  is  not  merely  a  z,  the  end  product  of  a  series, 
a,  b,  c,  d  .  .  .  He  is  not  a  mere  end  product  in 
a  linear  series,  but  something  that  is  interconnected 
on  all  sides  with  everything  else  in  the  universe,  so 
that  he  is  inexplicable  apart  from  the  whole,  and  the 
whole  is  incompletely  interpreted  without  him.  This 
universe,  which  does  not  merely  contain  but  actually 
produces  and  combines  the  material  particles,  in 
association  with  which  human  thought  and  feeling  are 
alone  known  to  us,  must  itself  stand  in  some  sort  of 
kindred  relation  to  thought  and  feeling.^     The  part  owes 

1  W.  H.  Mallock,  The  Reconstructio7i  of  Belief,  p.  i86. 
274 


THE  DIRECTIVE  FACTOR  IN  EVOLUTION 

its  specific  character  to  the  whole:  the  whole  is  that 
in  which  all  the  intermediate  stages  are  implicit  in 
a  perfect  synthesis. 

This  is,  however,  a  very  different  thing  from 
maintaining  that  the  whole  significance  of  everything 
on  this  planet  is  summed  up  in  its  relationship  to 
man.  Yet  there  is  no  vagary  in  maintaining  that 
such  relationship  is  a  real  aspect  of  all  meaning.  To 
do  so  is  not  to  insist  that  the  Carboniferous  came 
into  existence  solely  and  expressly  to  supply  coal  to 
mankind.  Still,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  get  coal 
therefrom,  and  it  plays  a  complicated  part  in  human 
life,  and  so  is  far  from  being  unrelated  to  a  reality 
which  occupies  so  large  a  portion  of  the  field  of 
existence.  Coal  and  its  value  enter  into  the  meaning 
of  the  Carboniferous  flora  as  an  objectively  valid  fact, 
when  the  objectivity  of  a  thing  is  taken,  as  it  ought,  to 
include  every  aspect  of  its  significance — its  social 
relations  in  this  case  as  well.  "  The  very  possibility 
of  extracting  from  a  thing  a  value  shows  that  the 
possibility  was  in  it,  and  therefore  that  it  is  a  veritable 
part  of  a  universe  which  sums  up  all  actual  relation- 
ships." ^  And  the  more  one  learns  about  these 
relationships  the  more  one  realises  how  great  is  the 
universe,  how  fathomless  must  have  been  the  initial 
meaning  that  has  unfolded  into  the  outcome  of  to-day, 
which  will  in  turn  develop  into  a  result  commensurate 
with  the  travail  of  a  universe. 

The  reality  of  the  world  is  revealed  in  the  whole 
rather  than  in  its  parts.  Some  explanation  is  wanted 
of  the  interaction  and  interconnection — the  co-operant 
toil.  A  cross  section  of  the  world  taken  at  any 
particular  point  or  moment  will  never  give  a  complete 
statement  of  reality,  for  it  is  a  process,  and  involves 

^  The  Religious  Conception  of  the  World,  by  A.  K.  Rogers,  p.  102. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

duration.  Assuredly  the  end  is  not  behind  us,  there- 
fore we  need  not  look  to  beginnings:  the  ideal,  the 
living  spring  that  moves  the  whole,  will  not  completely 
disclose  itself  even  in  the  present ;  but  to  the  trusting 
heart  and  wistful  mind  will  growingly  be  revealed. 


276 


CHAPTER    XII 

EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

Despite  the  progress  of  the  last  fifty  years  at  once  in 
Science  and  in  Biblical  interpretation,  it  is  still  difficult 
to  avoid  the  instinctive  association  of  the  idea  of 
creation  with  certain  conceptions  supposedly  derived 
from  the  majestic  utterances  with  which  the  Book  of 
Genesis  opens.  Possibly  no  passage  in  the  world's 
literature  has  been  the  arena  of  more  intense  wordy 
warfare.  Even  yet  the  din  of  controversy  over  these 
verses  has  not  wholly  subsided,  but  in  the  growing 
calm  their  undertone  of  a  sure  sense  of  God  begins 
again  to  rise  above  the  lesser  insistences  that  have 
hitherto  seemed  to  mean  more  to  their  interpreters. 
The  day  is  fast  approaching  when  infinitely  more 
arresting  than  the  story  of  the  controversy  itself  will 
be  the  wonder  how  any  misunderstanding  ever  arose 
at  all. 

In  offering  an  interpretation  the  modern  critic 
begins  by  disarticulating  two  Creation  Narratives, 
of  which  the  first,  comprising  Gen.  i.-ii.  4%  belongs 
to  P,  the  Priestly  Narrative,  while  the  second, 
including  the  story  of  the  Fall,  and  covering  Gen. 
ii.  4Mii.  24,  is  referred  to  J,  the  older  stratum,  the 
date  of  which  may  be  assigned  probably  to  the  ninth 
century  B.C.  The  Creation  Narrative  of  P  outlines  a 
cosmogony    which    was     the    inheritance    of    all     the 

2;; 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Semitic  peoples,  set  down  in  this  instance  about  the 
time  of   the   Babylonian   captivity,  say  500-450   B.C., 
by   a   learned    and   pious    Israelite,   possibly  a    priest. 
And  yet  his  version  differs  from  all  other  versions  of 
the  same  story  as  rendered  by  sacred  writers  of  Israel's 
far-off  kin,  for   he   has    been    inspired,  by   the   divine 
Spirit  directly   and    indirectly   through  truths  handed 
down  and    developed  by  a  long  line  of  prophets  and 
teachers,  to  assert  in  these  verses,  (i)  a  pure  and  sublime 
monotheism.     The     mould    of   the     Babylonian     cos- 
mogony, polytheistic  and   mythological,  is  retained  but 
purified,  and   deliberately  used  by  him,  even  with  some 
contempt  for  it,^  to  give  external  shape  to  his  assertion 
that  the  One  God  was  the  sole  Creator  of  the  universe 
and  of  every  constituent  of  it,  giving  expression,  as  with 
the  ease  of  speech,  to  His  divine  thought  and  purpose. 
(2)  That  this  one  eternal  and  omnipotent  Creator  had 
placed  Himself  in  peculiar  and  close  relations  to  man, 
not  only  constituting  him   the  crown   of  creation,  but 
forming  him  in    His   own   image   in   expression  of  His 
desire  for  near  and  loving  association  with  him.      (3)  Of 
this  communion  of  man  with  God  the  sign  and  seal  is 
the  Sabbath,  an   institution  whose  strictly  divine  origin 
demands   its   observance   as   an   essential  factor  in  the 
development  of  the  race.^ 

In  the  literary  structure  of  the  narrative,  features 
like  the  parallelism  of  its  clauses,^  the  recurrent  phrases, 
the  sharp  antitheses,  the  dramatic  setting  of  the  whole, 

^  Cf.  A.  Jeremias,  The  Old  Testament  in  the  Light  of  the  A  ncient  East, 

p.  175. 

2  It  ought  to  be  mentioned,  however,  that  in  Gen.  ii.  1-3  there  is  no 
specific  mention  of  the  Sabbath,  nor  indeed  any  command  concerning  its 
observance.  The  simple  statement  is  that  God  desisted  from  creative 
work  on  the  seventh  day  and  that  ?Ie  blessed  and  hallowed  it.  The 
writer  antedates  in  his  schematic  representation. 

3  Cf.  R.  G.  Moulton,  The  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible,  p.  71. 

278 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

and  the  forward  movement  to  a  consummation,  all  point 
to  its  poetic  idealistic  character.  The  standpoint  is  that 
of  a  devout  man  meditating  on  the  world  as  he  sees  it 
in  relation  to  its  ultimate  origin  and  to  himself,  and 
expressing  in  gratitude  of  heart  his  overwhelming  sense 
of  its  clear  witness  to  God.  The  majestic  simplicity  of 
the  passage  is  ill-adapted  to  the  involved  theologisings 
with  which  men  have  sought  to  embellish  it.  Thus 
the  conception  of  creation  out  of  nothing  has  been 
associated  with  a  Hebrew  word  that  conveys  no 
suggestion  of  the  idea,  and  is  often  used  of  the 
regular  production  of  terrestrial  forms  of  life.^  In  fact, 
there  is  not  a  trace  of  such  an  idea  in  Scripture  from 
beginning  to  end ;  it  is  a  late  mental  importation.^ 
Even  more  tangentially  others  have  imagined  the  days 
to  represent  great  aeons  of  time.  But  the  conception 
of  the  Hebrew  writer  is  surely  that  of  a  natural  day 
bounded  by  dawn  and  darkness.  He  puts  the  work 
of  the  Creator  into  the  working  week  of  any  ordinary 
labourer.  At  the  end  comes  the  Sabbath  rest :  God 
worked  and  rested,  so  must  man. 

3  Creation,  from  the  Scriptural  point  of  view,  is  a 
unity  of  which  man  is  the  head.  The  creation  began, 
and  progressed  towards  man ;  after  him  none  other 
creature  was  created.*  The  Old  Testament  conceives 
the  world  as  a  moral  constitution  with  God  behind  it. 
The  world  is  a  human  world,  yet  also  a  moral  world — 
the  means  of  intercourse  between  man  and  God.  It  is 
the  fact  of  the  moral  character  of  the  universe  that 
explains  how  the  external  world  is  dragged  into  man's 

^  Ps.  civ.  30;  Isa.  xliii.  i  ;  Amos  iv.  13. 
2  Cf.  2  Mace.  vii.  23,  and  later,  some  of  the  Early  Fathers. 
^  The  two  following  paragraphs  are  largely  based  on  reminiscences  of 
an  unpublished  lecture  by  the  late  Professor  A.  B.  Davidson. 
"  Ps.  viii.  5. 

279 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

relations  with  God,  reflecting  these  relations  according 
as  they  are  peaceful  or  disturbed,  and  even  falling  into 
a  state  of  dissolution  in  the  day  of  man's  judgment/ 
Man  is  king  over  Nature,  but  he  is  a  constitutional 
monarch.  He  is  her  best,  put  forward  by  herself  to 
rule  over  her.  The  relationship  between  man  and 
Nature  is  no  mere  pre-established  harmony :  he  feels 
himself  to  be  a  bit  of  Nature  simply  because  he  is  so. 
The  truth  of  his  headship  over  Nature  leaves  indefinite 
scope  for  scientific  research.  Science  cannot  show 
that  he  is  different  from  what  he  is;  she  cannot 
obliterate  his  spiritual  nature.  The  basal  interest  of 
the  first  Creation  Narrative  lies  in  its  theistic  con- 
ception of  things,  its  moral  interpretation  of  facts.  It 
does  not  quarrel  with  the  facts.  It  simply  asks, 
Under  what  point  of  view  do  you  bring  them  ?  and 
it  is  very  interested  to  answer  that  the  ultimate 
causality  is  God.  The  processes  may  be  very 
long  or  catastrophically  sudden ;  they  may  be 
very  varied  both  in  character  and  scope.  All  such 
discussion  may  well  be  left  to  Science.  There  will  be 
no  conflict  until  Science  maintains  that  the  whole 
process  goes  on  without  the  divine  causality. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Creation  Narrative 
was  capable  of  suggesting  an  idea  of  immediate 
creation  to  those  who  had  no  other  conception  of  that 
process.  The  idea  of  immediateness  in  relation  to  the 
divine  operations,  however,  pervades  all  Scripture. 
Scripture  knows  no  Energy  but  God  :  all  phenomena 
are  immediately  due  to  Him.  This  is  the  religious 
idea.  Science  cannot  rob  men  of  the  feeling  that 
what  happens  to  them  happens  through  God.  Even 
if  the  old  Hebrews  had  known  all  that  we  know,  had 
understood  all  the  steps  in  the  divine  progressive 
1  Isa.  xiii.  lo  ;  Zeph.  i.  15. 
280 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

march  of  events,  yet  they  would  have  seen  God  in  all 
of  them.  They  could  not  get  away  from  the  sense  of 
the  divine  working  hand  any  more  than  they  could 
remove  themselves  from  the  divine  presence.  As 
one  of  them  wrote : 

"Whither  can  I  go  from  Thy  Spirit? 
Or  whither  flee  from  Thy  countenance? 
If  I  ascend  to  heaven,  Thou  art  there  ! 
If  I  made  my  bed  in  Sheol,  Thou  art  there  ! 
If  I  should  take  the  wings  of  the  dawn, 
And  alight  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea, 
Even  there  would  Thy  hand  lead  me, 
And  Thy  right  hand  hold  me. 
Should  I  say  :  '  Darkness,  cover  me  ! 
And  at  night  be  it  light  about  me  ! ' — 
For  Thee  darkness  is  not  dark  : 
The  night  shines  as  the  day, 
And  darkness  is  like  the  light."  ^ 

Now,  to  this  vivid  awareness  of  the  universal  immediate- 
ness  of  the  divine  presence  there  corresponded  a  strong 
sense  of  the  immediacy  of  the  divine  working. 

The  adoption  of  such  a  standpoint  with  relation  to 
these  Creation  Narratives  gives  relief  from  a  number  of 
embarrassing  situations.  The  necessity  of  admitting 
the  incompatibility  of  the  first  narrative  with  the  long 
established  truths  of  science,  or  even  with  the  second 
narrative,  has  as  little  claim  on  our  regard  as  the 
inclination  to  applaud  subtle  demonstrations  of  the 
anticipation  in  the  same  record  of  the  most  recent 
physical  achievements.  In  Revelation  man  has  never 
been  taught  anything  that  he  could  learn  for  himself, 
and  it  is  derogatory  to  the  divine  wisdom  to  think  of 
it  unfolding  scientific  detail  to  a  pre-scientific  age,  or 
conveying  fundamental  religious  truths  by  means  of  an 
unintelligible   vehicle.      Strictly,  the   pages   of  Genesis 

^  Ps.  cxxxix.  7-12  ( Wellhausen's  translation). 
281 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  the  data  of  scientific  text-books  are  incommen- 
surate. It  is  as  if  one  attempted  to  equate  the 
symbolism  of  Watts'  pictures  with  the  chemistry  or 
physics  of  his  colour-box.  The  real  marvel  is  that 
now  that  we  know  a  little  of  the  method  of  creation 
and  have  also  learned  the  essential  message  and 
significance  of  these  initial  verses,  the  twin  revelations 
of  Science  and  of  Scripture,  so  far  from  contradicting  one 
another,  prove  to  be  complementary.  Accordingly, 
we  are  left  free  to  accept  all  the  genuine  results  of 
scientific  research  that  bear  on  man  and  his  place  in 
Nature,  while  we  rejoice  to  find  that  in  these  verses 
we  have  light  shed  upon  those  ultimate  questionings 
which  Science  can  never  answer.  The  lantern  itself 
may  by  some  be  considered  faulty.  It  is,  at  any 
rate,  of  antique  design.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
more  the  lantern  is  battered,  the  more  the  glass  is 
broken,  and  cracks  and  flaws  in  the  framework  opened 
up,  the  clearer  and  stronger  shines  out  the  light  that 
lightens  all  the  universe. 

The  Doctrine  of  Special  Creation. 

The  doctrine  of  Special  Creation,  till  recently  associ- 
ated with  these  early  narratives,  derived  much  of  its 
authority  from  the  supposed  fact  of  its  acceptance 
through  all  the  Christian  ages,  an  acceptance  that 
was  also  presumed  to  have  been  first  seriously  called 
in  question  as  the  result  of  Darwin's  investigations. 
On  the  contrary,  the  doctrine  has  a  very  definite  natural 
history,  some  of  whose  stages  are  well  defined.  One 
of  these  is  foreshadowed  in  the  distinct  rejection  of  a 
literal  interpretation  of  the  Creation  Narrative  by  St. 
Augustine  (354-430  A.D.).  In  his  mind  there  was  a 
clear  distinction  between  the  definite  creation  of 
organisms  and  their  gradual  development  under  suitable 

282 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

conditions  out  of  invisible  germs  latent  in  unformed 
matter.  He  distinctly  rejected  the  idea  of  the  days 
as  solar  periods  of  twenty-four  hours.  His  was  an 
evolutionary  belief  in  potential  rather  than  in  special 
creation.  "  Accordingly,"  he  says,^  "  that  unformed 
matter  which  God  made  out  of  nothing  was  at  the 
beginning  called  heaven  and  earth,  and  it  was  said, 
In  the  beginning  God  made  the  heaven  and  the 
earth,  not  because  this  state  of  things  now  was,  but 
because  it  was  able  to  be.  .  .  .  Just  as  if  considering 
the  seed  of  a  tree  we  may  say  that  roots  and  trunk 
and  branches  and  fruits  and  leaves  are  there,  not 
because  they  are  there  now  but  because  they  will  be 
out  of  it:  so  it  was  said.  In  the  beginning  God  made 
the  heaven  and  the  earth,  as  if  the  seed  of  the  heaven 
and  the  earth,  since  up  to  this  point  the  matter  of 
heaven  and  earth  was  in  confusion ;  but  because  it  was 
certain  that  from  this  the  heaven  and  the  earth  would 
be,  the  matter  was  already  called  heaven  and  earth." 

Nor  was  this  view  combated  by  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
(1225— 1274),  the  greatest  of  the  Schoolmen.  In  fact, 
his  positive  contribution  to  the  subject  is  simply  an 
exposition  of  St.  Augustine.  "  Nevertheless,  with 
regard  to  the  production  of  plants,  Augustine  holds 
a  different  view  from  others.  For  some  expositors 
say  that  plants  were  actually  produced  each  in  its  own 
species  on  this  third  day,  as  a  superficial  rendering  of 
the  letter  (of  Scripture)  suggests.  But  Augustine, 
5  super  Gen.  ad  litter.^  cap.  5  et  8,  cap.  3,  says  that 
the  earth  is  said  to  have  produced  herb  and  tree 
causally  then,  i.e.  received  the  power  to  produce.  This 
view  he  confirms  by  the  authority  of  Scripture,  for  in 
Gen,  ii.  4  it  is  said :  These  are  the  generations  of  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  when   they  were   created,  in  the 

*  De  Genesi  contra  MatiichcEos ^  Liber  primus,  Caput  vii. 
283 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

day  in  which  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  and 
every  plant  of  the  field  before  it  was  in  the  earth,  and 
every  herb  of  the  field  before  it  grew.  Therefore,  before 
they  appeared  upon  the  earth  they  were  made  causally 
in  the  earth.  However,  this  is  also  confirmed  by  reason; 
for  in  those  first  days  God  made  the  creature  primarily 
or  causally,  from  which  work  He  afterwards  rested,  yet 
nevertheless  in  His  administration  of  things  created, 
works  to  this  day  in  the  work  of  propagation.  For  to 
produce  plants  out  of  the  earth  belongs  to  the  work  of 
propagation.  Accordingly  on  the  third  day  plants  were 
not  produced  in  actuality,  but  only  causally."  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  largely  on  the  strength  of  an 
article  by  T.  H.  Huxley  entitled  Mr,  Darwiji's  Critics} 
it  becomes  clear  that  with  Francisco  Suarez(i  548-1617), 
the  last  great  name  amongst  the  Schoolmen,  should  be 
associated  much  of  the  ecclesiastical  responsibility  for 
the  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  of  Special  Creation. 
He  devoted  a  treatise  to  a  consideration  of  the  six 
days  of  Creation  in  which  he  distinctly  rejects  the 
Augustinian  principle  of  interpretation,  affirms  that 
the  days  referred  to  were  ordinary  days  of  twenty-four 
hours,  and  that  the  work  of  Creation  took  place  in  six 
such  days.  Huxley  concludes  in  reference  to  Mivart's 
claim  of  Suarez  as  an  evolutionist :  "  As  regards  the 
creation  of  animals  and  plants,  therefore,  it  is  clear 
that  Suarez,  so  far  from  '  distinctly  asserting  derivative 
creating,'  denies  it  as  distinctly  and  positively  as  he 
can  ;  that  he  is  at  much  pains  to  refute  St.  Augustine's 
opinions ;  that  he  does  not  hesitate  to  regard  the  faint 
acquiescence  of  St.  Thomas   Aquinas  in  the  views  of 

^  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  Summa  ThcoL,  Prima  Pars.  Qua^st  LXIX. 
art.  2. 

*  Collected  Essays^  ii.  p.  120,  originally  in  Coitemporary  Review  for 
November  1871. 

284 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

his  brother-saint  as  a  kindly  subterfuge  on  the  part  of 
Divus  Thomas  ;  and  that  he  affirms  his  own  view  to 
be  that  which  is  supported  by  the  authority  of  the 
Fathers   of  the  Church." 

The   simple   fact   is   that   towards   the   close   of  the 
sixteenth  century,  under  a  pressure  the  complex  nature 
of  which  has  not  yet  been  fully  elucidated,  a  theological 
reaction  set  in  against  the  wonderfully  sound  positions 
of  some  of  the  greatest  of  the  Fathers,  and  from  the 
date  of  the  burning  of  Giordano  Bruno  till  the  middle 
of  the   nineteenth    century    Special    Creation    became 
the    orthodox    teaching    of    the    Church.      Into    this 
pressure  entered  the  Calvinist  insistence  on  the  "  pure 
word  of  God."     The  doctrine  of  Special  Creation  is  a 
product  of  "  the   spirit  of  the  Puritan   movement,  with 
its   insistence   on   literal  interpretation  and   verbal   in- 
spiration," 1  a  spirit  that  received  superlative  expression 
in  Milton's  account  of  Creation  in  Paradise  Lost.     The 
remarkable  feature  is   that  just  about  the  same  time 
taxonomy  was  coming   into    existence  as  a   science,^ 
and   men   interested  in  the  classification  of  plants  and 
animals  were  exercised  about  the  question  of  species 
and  their  fixity.      The  stereotyping  of  the  conception 
from  the  scientific  point  of  view  was  accomplished  in 
Linnaeus'  memorable  definition  :  "  Species  tot  sunt,  quot 
diversas  formas  ab  initio  produxit  Infinitum  Ens,  quae 
formae,  secundum   generationis  inditas  leges  produxere 
plures,  at  sibi  semper  similes."     Yet  he  only  knew  and 
described  some  four  thousand  different  kinds  of  animal, 
and  they  not  unnaturally  seemed  to  correspond  to  the 
"  kinds  "  of  which  he  read  in  Genesis.     No  such  inter- 
pretation of  the  Creation  Narrative  is  possible  for  the 

1  Prof.  E.  B.  Poulton,  Essays  on  Evolution,  p.  56. 

2  John  Ray  (1627-1705),  the  first  great  British  taxonomist,  was  a  younger 
contemporary  of  John  Milton. 

285 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

individual  who  realises  that  for  every  "  kind "  known 
to  Linnaeus  more  than  two  hundred  are  known  to-day, 
and  who  further  possesses  and  has  understood  the  clear 
alternative  view  of  Creation  by  evolution. 

Yet  it  should  not  be  supposed  that  fixity  of  species 
and  special  creation  were  subscribed  to  by  all  men  of 
science  and  all  theologians  within  the  period  named. 
"  It  is  hardly  credible  to  us,"  wrote  Aubrey  Moore,^ 
"  that  Lord  Bacon,  '  the  father  of  modern  Science '  as 
he  is  called,  though  he  was  only  a  Schoolman  touched 
with  empiricism,  believed  not  only  that  one  species 
might  pass  into  another,  but  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
chance  what  the  transmutation  would  be.  Sometimes 
the  mediaeval  notion  of  vivification  from  putrefaction  is 
appealed  to,  as  where  he  explains  the  reason  why  oak 
boughs  put  into  the  earth  send  forth  wild  vines,  '  which, 
if  it  be  true  (no  doubt),'  he  says,^  '  it  is  not  the  oak 
that  turneth  into  a  vine,  but  the  oak  bough,  putrefying, 
qualifieth  the  earth  to  put  forth  a  vine  of  itself  Some- 
times he  suggests  a  reason  which  implies  a  kind  of  law, 
as  when  he  thinks  that  the  stump  of  a  beech  tree  when 
cut  down  will  '  put  forth  birch,'  because  it  is  a  '  tree  of 
a  smaller  kind  which  needeth  less  nourishment.'  Else- 
where he  suggests  the  experiment  of  polling  a  willow 
to  see  what  it  will  turn  into,  he  himself  having  seen 
one  which  had  a  bracken  fern  growing  out  of  it !  And 
he  takes  it  as  probable,  though  it  is  tnUr  magnalia 
naturce^  that  '  whatever  creature  having  life  is  generated 
without  seed,  that  creature  will  change  out  of  one 
species  into  another.'  Bacon  looks  upon  the  seed  as 
a  restraining  power,  limiting  a  variation  which,  in 
spontaneous  generations,  is  practically  infinite,  *  for  it 
is  the  seed,  and  the  nature  of  it,  which  locketh  and 

^  Science  and  the  Faith  (1889),  p.  174. 
2  Nat.  Hist.,  Cent.  VI.  522,  fol.  ed. 

286 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

boundeth  in  the  creature  that  it  doth  not  expatiate.' 
Here  the  fact  of  transmutation  is  taken  for  granted, 
generation  from  putrefaction  being  sometimes  called  in 
as  a  deus  ex  machind  to  explain  it.  But  Bacon  certainly 
had  no  idea  that  the  existing  species  of  plants  and 
animals  represent  those  originally  created  by  God,"  and 
his  general  standpoint  was  later  shared  by  Bufifon, 
Lamarck,  Treviranus,  St.  Hilaire,  Goethe,  and  other 
early  transmutationists. 

Likewise,  in  John  Wesley's  work,  A  Survey  of  the 
Wisdom  of  God  in  the  O'eation}  there  occur  these 
striking  passages :  "  All  is  metamorphosis  in  the 
physical  world :  forms  are  continually  changing :  the 
quantity  of  matter  alone  is  invariable :  the  same  sub- 
stance passes  successively  into  the  three  kingdoms : 
the  same  composition  becomes  by  turns  a  mineral, 
plant,  insect,  reptile,  fish,  bird,  quadruped,  man."  2 

"  This  immense  system  of  co-existent  and  successive 
beings,  is  no  less  one  in  succession  than  in  co-ordination, 
since  the  first  link  is  connected  with  the  last  by  the 
intermediate  ones.  Present  events  may  make  way  for 
the  most  distant  ones.  .   .  . 

"  In  the  universe  all  is  combination,  affinity,  con- 
nection. There  is  nothing  but  what  is  the  immediate 
effect  of  somewhat  preceding  it,  and  determines  the 
existence  of  something  that  should  follow  it.  .   .  . 

"  There  are  no  sudden  changes  in  nature ;  all  is 
gradual,  and  elegantly  varied.  There  is  no  being  which 
has  not  either  above  or  beneath  it  some  that  resemble 
it  in  certain  characters,  and  differ  from  it  in  others. 

"  Amongst  these  characters  which  distinguish  beings, 
we  discover  some  that  are  more  or  less  general. 
Whence  we  derive  our  distributions  into  classes,  genera, 

^  3rd  edition  in  5  vols.,  1775. 
^  Op.  cit.  vol.  iv.  p.  109. 

287 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  species.  But  there  are  always  between  two  classes, 
and  two  like  genera,  mean  productions,  which  seem  not 
to  belong  more  to  one  than  to  the  other,  but  to  connect 
them  both. 

"  The  polypus  links  the  vegetable  to  the  animal.  The 
flying  squirrel  unites  the  birds  to  the  quadruped.  The 
ape  bears  affinity  to  the  quadruped  and  the  man, 

"  But  if  there  is  nothing  cut  off  in  nature,  it  is  evident 
that  the  distributions  we  make  are  not  hers.  Those 
we  form  are  purely  nominal,  relative  to  our  necessities 
and  the  bounds  of  our  knowledge.  Those  intelligences 
which  are  superior  to  us,  discover  perhaps  more 
varieties  between  two  individuals  which  we  range  under 
the  same  species,  than  we  do  between  two  individuals 
of  distant  genera.  .  .   . 

"  By  what  degrees  does  nature  raise  herself  up  to 
man  ?  How  will  she  rectify  this  head  that  is  always 
inclined  towards  the  earth  ?  How  change  these  paws 
into  flexible  arms  ?  What  method  will  she  make  use 
of  to  transform  these  crooked  feet  into  supple  and 
skilful  hands  ?  .  .  .  The  ape  is  this  rough  draught  of 
man ;  this  rude  sketch ;  an  imperfect  representation  ; 
which,  nevertheless,  bears  a  resemblance  to  him.   .  .   . 

*'  Mankind  have  their  gradations,  as  well  as  the 
other  productions  of  our  globe.  There  is  a  prodigious 
number  of  continued  links  between  the  most  perfect 
man  and  the  ape."  ^ 

Although  views  of  this  general  nature  were  also  held 
by  others  within  the  Roman  ^  and  Protestant  com- 
munities, their  isolation  as  dissenters  from  the  current 
narrower  views  was  even  more  noticeable  than  in  the 
ranks  of  Science.      There  is  no  doubt  that  the  precise 

^  op.  cit.  vol.  iv.  pp.  56,  60,  61,  85,  86,  92. 

"^  Mivart  gives  the  names  of  Father  Pianciani  of  Rome,  Cardinal  Wiseman, 
and  others  {Lessons  fro7n  Nature,  pp.  440,  442). 

288 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

authoritative  Linnaean  conception  subscribed  to  like- 
wise by  Cuvier,  the  founder  of  comparative  anatomy, 
and  based  supposedly  on  Scripture,  by  its  very  rigidity 
of  definition  served  to  obscure  the  vague  conceptions  of 
organic  evolution  adumbrated  by  some  of  the  old  Greek 
philosophers,  naturalists,  and  even  theological  Fathers. 
It  may  be,  as  Dr.  Dixey  remarks,^  that  the  Linnaean 
conception  of  the  reality  and  fixity  of  species  as  cor- 
responding to  the  deeply  felt  need  of  "  an  accurate 
nomenclature  of  the  forms  of  life  .  .  .  perhaps  marks 
a  necessary  stage  in  the  progress  of  scientific  inquiry." 
It  may  be  that  a  reaction  from  the  rich,  warm  Oriental 
views  about  the  living  earth  and  its  living  products 
with  which  the  teaching  of  the  Greek  Fathers  is  suffused 
was  necessary  in  order  that  men  might  examine  more 
closely,  and  so  form  more  accurate  opinions  as  to  the 
character  of  these  products.  But  it  is  certain  that 
what  is  required  to-day  is  again  a  measured  swing  back 
from  our  cold  Occidental  static  view  of  things  tinged 
as  it  is  with  an  aversion  to  Nature, — a  legacy  from  the 
Latin  theology  that  was  grafted  on  to  the  pagan  con- 
ceptions of  our  wind-swept  northern  ancestors, — to  the 
palpitating  Nature-loving  thought  of  the  Orient. 

Creation  and  Providence. 
How,  then,  shall  we  think  of  Creation  ?  The  alter- 
native is  between  Creation  by  evolution,  and  Creation 
by  intrusion  and  fabrication  in  separate  acts.  Each 
presents  possibilities  of  design,  except  that  on  the  former 
supposition  the  design  will  be  on  a  grander  and  more 
comprehensive  scale.  Every  man  is  a  partial  evolution- 
ist. The  difficulty  for  some  is  in  realising  that  all  the 
world  processes  are  processes  of  growth,  that  all  the  varied 
forms  of  life  of  these  and  other  days  are  interrelated 

^  Church  Quarterly  Review,  October  1902,  art.  ii.  p.  28. 
T  289 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  bound  together  by  a  common  descent  provided  we 
trace  their  pedigree  sufficiently  far  back,  that  "  God 
hath  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men."  ^  For  such 
minds  glimpses  of  divine  activity  are  caught  amidst  the 
doings  of  the  human  race,  but  the  witness  is  scant 
amongst  the  lower  creation,  while  the  realm  of  the 
inorganic  is  as  Sheol,  which  cannot  "  praise  the  Lord."  ^ 
"  Science,"  said  Clerk  Maxwell,^  "  is  incompetent  to 
reason  upon  the  creation  of  matter  itself  out  of 
nothing.  We  have  reached  the  utmost  limit  of  our 
thinking  faculties  when  we  have  admitted  that,  because 
matter  cannot  be  eternal  and  self-existent,  it  must 
have  been  created."  Our  views  of  matter  have  been 
completely  revolutionised  since  these  words  were 
written,  and  in  the  process  it  only  seems  to  come  out 
more  clearly  that  there  always  has  been  a  manifestation 
of  God.  "  In  the  beginning,  God " :  Science  knows 
nothing  of  ultimate  origins — she  cannot  dispute  that 
sublime  word.  None  the  less  a  beginning  is  for  her 
unthinkable.  Her  outlook  to-day  is  upon  a  world  that 
seems  to  vanish  from  the  material  point  of  view,  but 
which  is  nevertheless  an  expression  of  Infinite  Energy. 
The  old  terms  remain,  but  their  content  is  different ; 
the  old  world  is  still  there,  but  more  than  ever  it  is  not 
in  its  inner  being  what  it  at  first  appears  to  be. 
Reduce  the  atom  to  its  constituent  electrons,  explain 
the  latter  as  particles  of  negative  electricity  revolving 
in  an  orderly  method  within  a  sphere  of  positive 
electricity,  work  out  the  final  problem  of  expressing 
positive  electricity  in  terms  of  ether,  or  what  comes  to 
the  same  thing,  interpret  both  in  terms  of  the  single 
ultimate  medium  composing  the  material  universe,  and 
yet  the  wonder  will  not  lessen.      We  are  no  nearer  the 

1  Acts  xvii.  26.  ^  Isa.  xxxviii.  18. 

s  Article  '' hiom,''  Encyclopadia Bri(annHa,<)i\\  ed.  (iS75),vol.  iii.  p.  49. 

290 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

beginning,  no  nearer  understanding  what  Creation  is. 
The  final  analysis  of  the  physicist  leaves  us  with  an 
invisible,  all-pervasive  Infinite  Energy  and  an  invisible, 
impalpable  vehicle  of  expression  ;  it  pushes  out  be- 
yond the  last  boundary  of  the  seen,  "  compelling  us 
to  believe,  as  we  were  told  long  ago,  '  that  what  is 
seen  hath  not  been  made  out  of  things  which  do 
appear,'  ^  but  is  the  direct  continuous  offspring  of  an 
unseen  universe  and  an  indwelling  yet  transcendent 
Power."  2 

Features  in  the  evolutionary  process  presenting  the 
characteristics  of  purposive  intelligence  have  led  us  to 
the  recognition  of  a  directive  factor.  In  other  words, 
the  Infinite  Energy  shows  the  characteristics  of 
Thought  in  its  working.  Of  pure  thought  we  know 
nothing ;  all  we  know  are  its  activities  and  forms  of 
expression  within  the  limitations  of  our  present 
existence.  These  are  very  varied  according  to  the 
character  of  the  medium  of  expression.^  They  include 
a  wide  range  of  activity,  from  the  instinctive  act  with 
its  minimum  of  consciousness  to  the  definite  effects 
that  are  wrought  in  material  organic  and  inorganic  as 
the  result  of  mental  action.  In  every  case  within  the 
activity  or  behind  its  results  is  the  energising  Idea  ever 
transcending  its  medium  of  expression  ;  the  failure  of 
their  presentation  is  the  perpetual  plaint  of  poet  and 
of  painter.  Yet  that  which  is  everywhere  manifest  is 
the  continual  tendency  of  thought  to  objectify  and 
externalise  itself:  thought  is  essentially  creative. 

On  such  a  view  the  universe  will  represent  partially 
and  tentatively  the  content  of  a  conscious  experience 

1  Heb.  xi.  3. 

2  Sir  W.  F.  Barrett,  The  Quest,  vol.  i.  No.  4,  art.  "Creative  Thought." 
^  For   detailed   illustrative   examples    reference   may   be    made   to   the 

suggestive  article  as  above. 

291 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

analogous  to  our  own.  Nature,  that  is  to  say, 
represents  something  that  is  real  and  true  for  the 
divine  experience,  although  it  is  not  the  whole  truth, 
not  the  whole  reality.  It  is  a  partial  phenomenal 
manifestation  of  the  invisible  Energy  of  the  universe, 
like  a  visible  cloud  in  a  great  encompassing  atmo- 
sphere. This  higher  world  order  is  the  objective  to 
the  eternal,  self-existent  God  through  which  and  in 
which  His  omnipotent  will  acts  and  carries  out  His 
purposes. 

Accordingly  it  is  not  helpful  to  think  of  Creation  as 
an  event  at  some  definite  point  in  time.  To  do  so 
involves  such  a  tremendous  change  in  the  life  of  Him 
of  whom  more  worthily  and  fundamentally  we  think 
as  unchangeable.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  why  just 
at  one  particular  point  in  time  God  should  give 
utterance  and  self-expression  in  Creation.  We  may, 
of  course,  fall  back  upon  the  fellowship  of  the  Trinity 
as  the  motif  of  the  pre-creational  aeons ;  we  may 
imagine  that  we  are  preserving  the  divine  freedom  by 
positing  Creation  at  some  definite  point  in  time.  But 
neither  conception  seems  to  fit  in  with  that  dynamic 
aspect  of  divinity  that  is  revealed  in  such  a  declaration 
as  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work."  ^ 
<*  We  cannot  therefore  say  that  there  was  a  time 
when  God  had  not  yet  made  anything,"  concludes  the 
evolutionary  Augustine.^  "  Not  then  for  the  first  time 
did  God  begin  to  work  when  He  made  this  visible 
world ;  but  as,  after  its  destruction,  there  will  be 
another  world,  so  also  we  believe  that  others  existed 
before  the  present  came  into  being,"  ^ — so  had  Origen 
expressed  himself  even  earlier.     "  Die  Weltgeschichte 

1  John  V.  17. 

-  De  Genesi  contra  Manichcpos,  Lib.  prim.  Cap.  iii. 

2  Origen,  De  Principiis,  trans,  by  F.  Crombie,  p.  255. 

292 


EVOLUTION   AND  CREATION 

ist  das  Weltgericht,"  says  the  German  poet :  in  which 
case  every  day  is  a  Day  of  Judgment,  and  in  a  very 
profound  sense  any  day  may  be  a  real  Last  Day. 
Likewise  every  day  is  a  day  of  creation  ;  every  Spring 
a  creative  Spring.      God  is  eternally  a  Creator. 

Nor  should  we  think  of  Creation  as  involving  the 
absolute  separation  of  Creator  and  creature.  Whilst 
we  must  guard  against  all  language  that  would  involve 
identification  of  God  with  the  world,  yet  must  we  bear 
in  mind  their  intimacy  and  union.  We  may  think  of 
them  perhaps  as  two  elements  in  the  one  universe  of 
Being,  that  which  is  permanent  and  unchangeable  in 
itself,  and  that  which  undergoes  or  is  subject  to  change. 
This  means  that  Creation  is  change,  the  new  being  the 
creature.  The  series  of  changes  as  a  series  may  be 
eternal, — probably  is.  It  will  always  be  truer  to  experi- 
ence to  think  of  that  constant  process  of  change  that 
we  call  the  flow  or  stream  of  events  as  without  begin- 
ning or  end,  to  think  of  the  existence  of  the  universe 
bound  so  closely  to  God  as  it  is,  as  eternal  or  infinite, 
and  as  such  simply  because  of  His  will.  The  series,  of 
changes  in  itself  as  a  series  is  eternal,  but  each  element 
constitutive  of  the  series  is  not  in  itself  eternal,  but  has 
a  beginning  and  an  end  in  time.  So  regarded,  all  that 
Science  knows  of  causes  and  effects,  of  the  sequences 
and  laws  of  Nature,  will  constitute  her  partial  answer 
to  the  problem  of  Creation. 

Thus  to  think  of  Creation  as  an  endless  process  so 
far  as  we  know  or  can  best  judge  of  it  compels  us  to 
realise  in  God  the  indwelling,  informing  Principle,  the 
immanent  reason  of  the  development  of  the  world.  In 
employing  the  term  "divine  immanence  "  emphasis  is  laid 
on  the  continuous  activity,  the  informing  and  sustaining 
relationship  of  God  to  the  universe.  It  is,  however,  a 
relationship,  not  an  identity.      God  is  in  the  universe 

293 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

He  is  with  it,  but  He  is  not  the  universe.  The  uni- 
verse is  in  God  and  with  God,  but  the  universe  is  not 
God.  Therein  Hes  the  vital  difference  between  views 
pantheistic  and  panentheistic.  His  universal  presence 
in  the  world  is  creative  and  sustaining  through  the 
operation  of  His  will;  without  the  divine  Reason  was 
not  anything  made  that  hath  been  made.  Were  He 
to  withdraw,  we  could  only  imagine  the  shrivelling 
up  of  the  universe,  the  vanishing  of  law  and  order — 
chaos,  destruction,  and  dissolution.  Yet  is  it  in  the 
realm  of  spirit — the  ordering  of  the  spiritual  world — 
that  most  clearly  the  divine  immanence  reveals  itself. 

In  these  great  topics  analogy  can  aid  us  very  little. 
Continually  we  find  ourselves  but  skirting  the  shores 
of  a  great  continent — that  world  which  we  know — 
when  we  had  started  out  to  chart  the  ocean  of  God's 
Being.  It  is  characteristic,  however,  of  our  humanity 
to  look  into  man's  nature  and  see  what  reflection  it  can 
give  us  of  that  which  we  know  so  greatly  excels  it. 
Thus  it  is  in  reflection  upon  self-consciousness  and  our 
persistent  self-identity  that  we  reach  the  idea  of  the 
transcendence  of  God  in  relation  to  the  world,  meaning 
thereby  that  God  is  not  exhausted,  so  to  speak,  in 
those  aspects  of  Himself  in  which  He  is  revealed  to  us. 
Such  a  thought  forbids  us  ever  to  think  of  the  universe 
as  simply  equivalent  to  God,  and  emphasises  our  thought 
of  it  as  being  the  visible  expression  of  an  indwelling 
Divine  Life  which  yet  is  something  more  than  the  sum 
of  operations  of  natural  forces.  He  is  immanent  in 
Nature,  but  He  also  transcends  her.  He  is  greater 
than  all  that  we  see  or  know :  by  searching  we 
cannot  find  out  God  unto  perfection.  But  in  His 
transcendence  we  think  of  His  self-existence,  of  His 
creatorhood,  of  His  power  to  produce,  sustain,  order, 
and  love  the  universe.      Nor  is  there  anything  mutually 

294 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

exclusive  in  the  two  aspects  of  Immanence  and 
Transcendence ;  for  we  may  be  sure  that  that  creative 
Spirit  which  is  Love  will  be  desirous  of  remaining 
in  close  relationship  with  that  which  He  has  willed 
into  being. 

Religious  thought  leads  us  to  the  conception  of  the 
World  Principle  immanent  and  transcendent  as  personal. 
If  it  is  rational  and  intelligent,  it  must  also  be  conscious 
and  personal.  Of  course  we  cannot  form  a  clear  con- 
ception of  such  infinite  unconditioned  personality.  We 
are  certain  that  it  is  something  richer  in  content  than 
our  personality.  The  divine  activity,  the  divine  nature 
can  never  be  wholly  understood  by  our  finite  minds, 
but  we  do  not  deceive  ourselves  when  we  live  believing 
that  the  character  of  the  World  Principle  has  affinities 
with  what  is  truest  and  best  in  our  own  activity.  This 
is  not  to  make  man  the  measure  of  the  universe, 
still  less  of  God,  but  it  is  to  realise  that  He  is  not 
something  less  than  man.  God  is  not  less  but  more 
than  a  Person,  or  rather,  personality  proper  is  possible 
only  to  God.  Every  objection  to  the  conception  of 
the  Divine  Personality  is  simply  evidence  of  the  limita- 
tions and  incompleteness  of  human  personality. 

Further,  as  a  result  of  these  considerations,  we  may 
be  helped  in  our  understanding  of  the  much-misused 
words  natural  and  supernatural.  For  one  thing  is 
certain,  namely,  that  the  universe  admits  of  no  dissection 
into  parts  that  are  natural,  and  parts  that  are  super- 
natural ;  it  is  no  image  with  natural  feet  and  trunk  of 
clay,  and  a  head  of  supernatural  precious  metal.  For 
the  whole  is  both  natural  and  supernatural — natural  in 
so  far  as  it  is  an  objective  expression  of  God,  super- 
natural in  the  manner  of  its  continued  upholding  by 
God.  Nature  is  the  orderly  guise  of  the  ultimate 
Spiritual  Causality,  and  events  are  then  natural  in  the 

295 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

mode  of  their  occurrence,  and  supernatural  in  that  they 
all  alike  rest  on  that  active  energising  Will  in  which  all 
things  consist.  There  is  nothing  from  the  Protozoa  to 
man,  from  the  pebble  to  the  river,  in  which  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural  do  not  appear  in  closest  relation- 
ship, and  the  former  is  absolutely  and  at  all  times 
dependent  on  the  latter.  "  The  sole  supernatural  is 
that  creative,  quickening,  inspiring  life  which  is  God 
Himself,  and  the  natural  includes  anything  and  every- 
thing in  which  the  living  will  is  expressed,"  ^  although 
the  expression  occurs  in  varying  degrees  according  to 
the  expressive  power  of  the  object. 

Finally,  we  are  also  helped  in  our  interpretation  and 
understanding  of  Providence.  Here  in  particular  linger 
traces  of  that  practical  Deism  with  its  occasional  in- 
trusions that  is  so  damaging  to  the  life  of  faith,  and  so 
contrary  to  experience  as  we  know  it.  It  is  common 
to  talk  not  merely  of  Providence,  but  providences — 
nay,  special  providences.  Yet  any  particular  providence 
will,  when  examined,  always  take  the  form  of  a  definite 
specific  co-ordination  of  events  such  as  will  be  found  in 
any  providence,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  special  provi- 
dence, all  that  really  happens  is  that  the  divine  purpose 
and  causality  in  things  are  more  apparent.  At  other 
times  our  eyes  are  holden  or  become  dim,  and  the 
purpose  and  causality  equally  present,  equally  deter- 
minative, are  missed  by  us.  For  if  our  conception  of 
the  relation  of  natural  and  supernatural  is  right,  and 
anything  is  because  of  its  significance,  there  is  purpose 
in  everything.  But  when  we  realise  that  divine  wisdom 
and  power  are  at  work  in  all  things,  when  we  can  prove 
in  our  experience  that  God  is  able  to  mould  and  co- 
ordinate the  conditions  of  His  world  into  a  system  that 
executes  His  will  for  us  and  through  us,  so  that  things 

^  W.  Newton  Clarke,  Christian  Doctrine  of  God ^  p.  341. 
296 


EVOLUTION  AND  CREATION 

have  a  continuous  significance,  and  in  their  most 
seemingly  physical  aspects  can  work  to  our  spiritual 
advantage,  we  shall  cease  to  lay  stress  on  "  special 
providences." 

Our  human  tendency  at  once  to  avow  and  disavow 
is  seen  in  reports  of  selective  human  disasters  which 
conclude  by  reference  to  those  who  were  "  providenti- 
ally saved."  1  But  was  there  no  providence  for  those 
who  found  no  way  of  escape?  Belief  in  God  and 
in  His  Providence  must  cover  all  the  facts  and 
demands  long-distance  views.  It  demands  time — 
perhaps  Eternity ;  yet  the  patience  of  nature  is  the 
patience  of  God.  Just  in  the  degree  that  freedom 
means  anything  and  man  realises  his  power  for  evil 
or  good  v/ill  the  divine  plans  involve  failure  and  defeat 
no  less  than  victory  and  success,  loss  just  as  well 
as  gain.  But  when  we  see  that  these  things  do  work 
"  an  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory,"  that  in 
the  moments  of  most  signal  seeming  defeat  are  born 
the  convictions  that  ultimately  prove  invincible,  that 
death's  apparent  victory  consists  but  in  the  removal 
of  the  husk  concealing  the  powers  of  an  endless  life, 
when,  in  short,  we  realise  that  we  are  in  our  Father's 
world,  even  if  we  cannot  comprehend  in  fulness  the 
mystery  of  His  ways,  then  does  the  course  of  Nature 
become  in  a  new  sense  to  us  the  revelation  of  His 
care,  the  symbol  of  His  providence.  And  this  His 
providence  is  over  all. 

1  Borden  P.  Bowne,  The  Immanence  of  God,  p.  63. 


297 


CHAPTER      XIII 

MENTAL   EVOLUTION 

As  the  investigator  gradually  realises  the  potency  of 
the  evolutionary  conception,  it  becomes  increasingly 
clear  to  him  that  there  is  no  point  at  which  he  can 
desist  in  his  application  of  it  as  a  modal  interpretation. 
Yet,  when  he  reviews  his  distinguishing  features  as 
man,  he  may  well  be  pardoned  if  he  shrinks  from 
the  thought  of  submitting  those  which  he  has  deemed 
unique  to  the  solvent  influence  of  the  new  organon  ; 
on  the  other  hand,  he  may  rejoice  in  the  vision  of 
a  successful  corroboration  in  regions  of  more  subtle 
influence.  This  difference  of  viewpoint  is  well  brought 
out  in  the  case  of  the  co-discoverers  of  Natural 
Selection.  "  My  object,"  says  Darwin,  "  in  this 
chapter  is  to  show  that  there  is  no  fundamental 
difference  between  man  and  the  higher  mammals  in 
their  mental  faculties."^  A.  R.  Wallace,  on  the 
other  hand,  states  his  belief  that  such  a  conclusion 
is  "  not  supported  by  adequate  evidence,  and  is 
directly  opposed  to  many  well-ascertained  facts."  ^ 
Evidently,  we  have  reached  a  point  where  the 
difficulties  are  great,  and  we  must  proceed  warily. 
Evolution   is  a  jealous  mistress ;   she  will  have  all  or 

^  The  Descent  of  Man,  p.  99.     Darwin's  treatment  of  Mental  Evolution 
has  hardly  received  adequate  recognition. 
"  Darwinism,  p.  461. 

298 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

nothing.  Let  us  inquire  into  the  reasonableness  of 
her  claim.  If  she  is  worthy,  the  surrender,  though 
hard,  will  not  be  refused  by  the  loyalist  to  truth; 
indeed,  his  only  course  is  to  obey. 

Evidently  the  psychologist  and  the  biologist  approach 
the  question  from  different  ends  of  a  chain,  so  to  speak. 
The  former  is  impressed  with  the  uniqueness  of  self- 
consciousness  ;  the  latter  wonders  at  the  sentlency  of 
the  simplest  forms  of  life.  The  difficulty  lies  in  getting 
each  to  appreciate  the  other's  facts.  Neither  will 
dispute,  however,  that  mind  is  in  some  way  ordinarily 
connected  with  brain.  What  the  relationship  exactly 
is  constitutes  a  problem  of  fundamental  difficulty.  It 
is  not  any  more  easy  to  conceive  how  mind  exists 
in  association  with  a  brain  than  it  is  to  think  of  it 
apart  from  a 'brain.  The  relation  may  be  inscrutable, 
but  we  cannot  insist  that  it  is  necessary.  To  this 
particular  aspect  we  shall  return  later. 

The  biologist's  contribution  to  the  problem  consists 
in  showing  that  there  has  been  an  evolution  of  the 
organ  of  mind,  and  corresponding  to  this  in  some  way, 
the  comparative  psychologist  finds  a  certain  grading  of 
mental  qualities.  Yet  the  problem  becomes  quickly 
complicated  even  for  the  biologist.  He  will  have 
traversed  some  considerable  way  in  the  upward  grade 
of  life  before  he  finds  any  structure  which  he  can 
describe  as  an  organ  of  mind,  and,  further,  however 
carefully  he  examines  the  taxonomic  scale  he  will  have 
great  difficulty  in  pointing  to  any  particular  form  of 
life,  and  saying  :  "  There  for  the  first  time  consciousness 
is  present."  Again,  at  every  stage  the  interpretation 
is  bound  to  be  peculiarly  precarious.  Our  knowledge 
of  mind  in  our  fellow-men  is  inferential;  the  only 
consciousness  of  which  we  are  aware  at  first  hand  is 
our  own.      Particularly,  therefore,  have   we   to  watch 

299 


SPIRITUAL  L\TERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

against  reading  into  the  actions  of  other  creatures  such 
an  antecedent  psychical  sequence  of  events  as  we  are 
familiar  with  in  the  case  of  our  own  minds. 

These  difficulties  meet  us  at  the  threshold  of  our 
study.  We  have  learned  to  think  of  irritability  as  a 
fundamental  characteristic  of  life,  but  at  what  precise 
stage  such  irritability,  with  its  allied  sensitivity,  passes 
over  into  direct  sensation,  we  cannot  say.  In  the 
plant  world  we  have  expressions  of  this  irritability  in 
the  geotropism  of  the  tendril,  and  the  sensitivity  to 
moisture  in  the  root-hair.  In  the  Protozoa,  where  the 
whole  creature  shows  the  capacity  of  response,  we  see 
clear  expressions  of  this  irritability  in  the  different 
tactisms,  largely  chemical  and  electrical,  which,  if  they 
were  everything,  would  involve  almost  complete  deter- 
mination of  the  organism  by  the  environment.  Loeb 
and  others  have  indeed  expressed  all  protozoan  and 
other  activities  in  terms  of  tactisms  and  tropisms,  which 
form  in  their  opinion  the  raw  material  out  of  which 
the  higher  instincts  are  developed.  Touch  alone,  it  is 
held,  without  the  sensation  of  touch,  is  possibly  sufficient 
for  Ciliate  life.  The  degree  of  irritability  varies  with 
mobility,  yet  it  is  felt  to  be  unwarrantable  to  affirm 
accompanying  sensation,  particularly  as  many  complex 
reactions  go  on  in  our  bodies,  e.g.  digestion,  without  sensa- 
tion. In  fact,  sensation  is  sometimes  definitely  denied  to 
the  Protozoa.^  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  have  given 
most  attention  to  the  matter  find  it  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult to  account  for  all  protozoan  activities  in  terms  of 
physico-chemical  attraction.  If  the  power  of  conscious 
choice  is  taken  as  a  criterion  of  mind,  it  is  perhaps  not 
possible  to  maintain  this  of  the  Protozoa ;  yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  seems  even  more  difficult  to  explain  what 
the  observer  sees  in  terms  of  complete  determinism.    The 

^  The  Laws  of  Heredity,  by  Archdall  Reid,  p.  36811. 
300 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

persistent  refusal  of  the  Amoeba  to  ingest  a  grain  of  silica, 
while  yet  it  will  engulf  the  silicious  shell  of  the  diatom, 
is  something  more  than  the  refusal  of  oil  and  water  to 
mix,  or   the   rushing   together  of   H    and    O   to  form 
water.    The  predatory  Ciliata  show  considerable  clever- 
ness in  the  way  they  capture  their  prey.    H.  S.  Jennings 
sums  up  several  years  of  work  on  the  behaviour  of  the 
lowest    organisms   in    these    words :    "  This   work    has 
shown  that  in  these  creatures  the  behaviour  is  not  as 
a  rule  on   the  tropism  plan — a  set,  forced  method  of 
reacting  to  each  particular  agent — but  takes  place  in  a 
much  more  flexible,  less  directly  machine-like,  way,  by 
the  method  of  trial  and  error.      This  method  involves 
many  of  the  fundamental  qualities   which  we  find   in 
the  behaviour  of  higher  animals,  yet  with  the  simplest 
possible  basis  in  ways  of  action,  a  great  portion  of  the 
behaviour  consisting  often  of  but  one  or  two  definite 
movements,  that  are  stereotyped   when  considered  by 
themselves,  but  not  stereotyped  in  their  relation  to  the 
environment.      This   method  leads  upward,  offering  at 
every  point  opportunity  for  development,  and  showing 
even  in  the  unicellular  organisms  what  must  be  con- 
sidered   the   beginnings   of  intelligence   and   of  many 
other  qualities  found  in  higher  animals.      Tropic  action 
doubtless  occurs,  but  the   main  basis  of  behaviour  is 
in    these  organisms  the  method   of  trial   and  error."  ^ 
Confirmation     of    these    results    is    given     in     further 
work   along  different  lines  by  S.  O.  Mast,^  who  states 
specifically  that  "  the  light   reactions   of  Stentor  coer., 
both  free-swimming  and  fixed,  cannot  be  explained  by 
the  application  of  the  tropism  theory,"  i.e.  the  organisms 

1  Cotitributions  to  the  Study  of  the  Behaviour  of  Lower  Organisms, 
p.  252. 

2  <<  Light  Reactions  in   Lower   Organisms,"  Journal  of  Experimental 
Zoology,  vol.  iii.  No.  3,  p.  392. 

301 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

do  not  orient  in  strict  and  immediate  relation  to  the 
direction  of  light  rays,  but  by  means  of  a  specific  motor 
reaction  which  consists  in  turning  towards  a  structurally 
defined  side,  and  is  repeated  many  times  if  necessary, 
until  "  the  anterior  end  of  the  animal  happens  to  become 
directed  from  the  source  of  light." 

Pursuing  the  inquiry  along  biological  lines,  we  find 
the  next  stage  that  merits  consideration  to  be  that  of 
the  typical  gastrula,  e.g.  Hydra  or  the  sea-anemone, 
where  the  outer  layer,  in  contact  with  the  environment, 
develops  the  sensitiveness  to  outward  stimuli,  and 
from  it,  eventually,  in  the  case  of  the  higher  animals, 
the  central  nervous  system — even  the  brain — is  de- 
veloped. This  outer  layer,  or  epiblast,  is  the  primitive 
sensory  organ ;  it  is  responsive  to  every  kind  of 
stimulus.  The  later  differentiation  consists  in  the 
development  of  special  organs  to  respond  more  effec- 
tively to  different  kinds  of  stimuli.  Further,  we  may 
assume,  as  a  result  of  our  ideas  of  the  unity  of  the 
organism,  that  effects  in  the  epiblast  will  cause 
secondary  effects  in  the  hypoblast,  even  before  the 
development  of  a  nervous  system.  In  the  Coelenterate 
group,  however,  there  is  no  differentiation  into  sensory 
and  motor  nerves  :  nerve  fibres  run  directly  from  the 
sensitive  cells  in  the  epiblast  to  the  muscle  cells. 
There  is  no  possibility  of  a  common  consciousness  in 
the  typical  disconnected  nervous  elements,  and  the 
activities  of  the  simple  neuro-muscular  mechanism  of 
the  group  might  still  in  great  measure  be  effectively 
explained  in  terms  of  tactisms.  Yet  such  an  explana- 
tion, if  incomplete  in  the  case  of  the  Protozoa,  is  more 
so  here,  although  it  is  difficult  to  delimit  its  insufficiency, 
still  more  to  posit  consciousness  as  we  know  it. 

The  next  stage  that  we  may  consider  is  that  which 
is  found  in  the  organic  lumber-room  inscribed  Vermes. 

302 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

By  this  time  there  has  developed  in  the  two-layered 
gastrula  a  third  layer,  the  mesoblast,  which  in  the 
higher  forms  gives  rise  to  the  musculature,  a  system 
always  found  in  close  connection  with  the  nervous 
system.  Definite  nerve  cells  are  now  introduced  be- 
tween the  sensory  and  the  motor  fibres,  where  the  im- 
pulse transmitted  from  the  surface  is  transformed  into  an 
impulse  communicated  to  the  motor  fibre  and  so  to  the 
muscle.  Specific  ganglionic  groups  of  these  nerve  cells 
form  the  incipient  brain.     With   growing   complexity 


Fig,  8.— Diagram  showing  essential  parts  of  an  apparatus  of  exchange 
between  the  external  world  and  consciousness. 

N.C.  nerve  centre;  s.c.  sensory  cell;  s.f.  sensory  fibre;  S.S.  sensory 
surface;  m.c.  motor  cell;  m.f.  motor  fibre;  M.  muscle.  Arrow- 
heads show  direction  of  transmission.     (After  Leconte. ) 

of  the  nervous  system,  the  nerve  currents  set  up  by 
stimulation  of  the  sense  organs  give  rise  in  the  ganglia 
to  sensations — delicate,  discriminating  stimuli  that 
release  indirectly  specific  stores  of  energy  collected  in 
various  masses  of  contractile  cells.  Nervous  impulses 
received  through  the  medium  of  the  sense  organs  are 
in  this  way  transmitted  to  the  muscles. 

As  we  pass  round  the  different  groups  in  this  vast 
assembly,  and  indeed  ascend  farther,  considering  par- 
ticularly Crustacea  and  MoUusca,  we  note  definite  in- 
crease in  the  size  and  number  of  the  ganglionic  masses, 
some  of  which  serve  as  brain,  together  with  growing 

303 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

complexity  of  the  connective  nervous  elements  and 
sense  organs.  Yet  it  is  unnecessary  to  break  the 
largely  unconscious  automatic  cycle  of  interpretation, 
although  a  linkage  of  stimuli  accompanied  by  their 
temporarily  retained  impressions  may  have  inhibitive 
results  on  the  activities  of  a  creature.  We  find  many 
cases  of  successively  different  reactions  to  stimuli  of 
the  "  trial  and  error  "  type,  but  wg  cannot  easily  think 
of  them  as  deliberately  put  into  practice,  especially  in 
default  of  an  organ  for  such  conscious  deliberation. 
As  automatic  activities — more  rather  than  less — they 
correspond  to  the  lower  reflex  ranges  of  human  activity. 
Unequivocal  demonstration  of  consciousness,  as  humanly 
understood,  is  not  yet  available  in  the  invertebrate 
realm,  but  what  is  noticeable  above  the  Protozoa  is,  in 
Jenning's  words,  that  ''  stimulation  causes  varied  move- 
ments which  do  not  all  lead  toward  the  condition  finally 
attained,  and  that  those  movements  which  do  lead 
toward  this  final  condition  (the  '  optimum  ')  are  followed 
up  more  decidedly  than  the  others.  The  behaviour 
may  perhaps  be  most  accurately  characterised  as  '  selec- 
tion from  among  the  conditions  produced  by  varied 
movements.' "  ^ 

When  we  pass  up  to  the  Vertebrate  Kingdom  we 
find  in  the  most  highly  developed  members  of  its  lowest 
class  a  brain  whose  principal  parts  correspond  in  a 
general  way  to  the  parts  of  that  organ  in  the  most  highly 
developed  members  of  that  great  division  of  the  organic 
world.  The  connection  between  vertebrate  and  in- 
vertebrate, whether  through  worm  or  eurypterid,  is 
unimpeachable,  though  still  obscure,  and  once  the 
vertebrate  brain  has  been  definitely  established  the 
progressive  development  is   marked  and  unmistakable. 

1  *'  Modifiability  in  Beha-wiour,"  /021m a/  of  Experimental  Zoology,  vol. 
iii.  No.  3,  p.  452. 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

Of  the  segmented  nervous  system  of  these  humbler 
days  even  the  most  highly  developed  vertebrate  form 
still  shows  reminiscences,  e.g.  in  the  spinal  cord.  Such 
a  forward- moving  ancestor  would  find  it  advantageous 
to  have  its  sensory  organs  in  the  anterior  region  of  the 
body,  a  situation  retained  throughout,  though  some- 
what disguised  by  the  human  upright  attitude.  At 
the  same  time,  the  task  of  comparing  the  brains  of 
individuals  of  the  different  mammalian  orders  is  one 
of  peculiar  difficulty,  and  leads  to  statements  which 
credit  Elephantidae  and  some  Cetacea  with  brains  more 
highly  convoluted  than  those  of  the  Primates. 

So  far,  comparative  psychology  has  not  made  any 
close  study  of  the  mental  life  of  fishes,  amphibians,  or 
reptiles.  The  capacity  of  some  forms  for  making  new 
linkages  has  been  demonstrated, — at  any  rate,  such 
linkages  arise  within  the  nervous  system, — but  that 
they  are  conscious  associations  is  still  beyond  strict 
proof.  Granted  that  it  is  experimentally  proven  that 
the  fish  can  learn  by  experience,  and  that  it  can  modify 
its  conduct  in  face  of  a  new  situation,  yet  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  what  has  happened  is  the  result 
of  a  conscious  acquisition  of  an  idea  or  the  unconscious 
selection  of  an  impulse — whether  it  does  not  uncon- 
sciously feel  its  way  rather  than  consciously  think  its 
way  into  the  successful  attitude  or  activity.  Associa- 
tions are  formed  in  the  brain,  it  may  be  held,  in  virtue 
of  which  instinctive  impulses  are  modified,  but  as  yet 
these  associations  are  unillumined  by  active  conscious- 
ness. Memory  there  is,  but  of  that  unconscious 
character  that  we  have  already  seen  associated  with 
Semon's  views  on  heredity. 

At   the  level  of  the  class  Aves,  we  have  reached   a 
brain    whose    comparableness   to   the   human   brain   is 
much  more  marked  than  at  any  lower  stage,  particularly 
U  305 


SPIRITUAL  LNTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

in  the  development  of  the  cortex  whose  regional  study 
has  so  greatly  added  to  our  understanding  of  the 
localisation  of  definite  functions.  With  such  an  organ 
it  would  be  idle  to  deny  the  presence  of  consciousness 
even  if  we  should  not  expect  that  it  was  of  the  same 
degree  or  timbre  as  in  the  human  subject.  The 
gradual  differentiation  of  association-areas  from  the 
sensory-motor  areas,  the  successive  development  of 
posterior,  median,  and  anterior  areas  of  the  cortex  in 
strict  association  with  progressively  higher  features  of 
psychical  life,  may  be  traced  in  avian  and  mammalian 
brains  with  considerable  exactitude.  The  bird  can 
adapt  itself  in  some  degree  to  new  situations,  but  the 
adaptation  is  probably  due  to  the  selection  of  one  of 
several  associations  of  sensory  impression  and  impulse 
— that  one  which  has  a  pleasing  issue.  The  growth 
of  association-area  means  an  increase  of  plasticity — 
escape  from  a  single  inexorable  response  to  stimuli. 
Yet  as  the  human  being  makes  unconscious  associations, 
we  cannot  definitely  state  what  degree  of  consciousness 
illumines  the  new  mental  associations  of  the  bird. 

The  closer  degree  of  correspondence  between  the 
lower  mammalian  and  human  brains  intensifies  the 
conclusions  tentatively  advanced  in  connection  with 
the  avian  brain.  Association  of  impressions  with 
impulses  is  clearly  demonstrated,  together  with  that 
externally  determined  selection  of  one  particular  impulse 
which  proved  beneficial.  On  the  grounds  of  com- 
parative anatomy — slender  enough  in  this  particular 
connection — a  related  consciousness  of  these  associa- 
tions can  hardly  be  denied.  In  fact,  that  which 
comparative  experimental  psychology  seems  to  point 
to  is  a  gradual  enlarging  of  the  area  of  association, 
a  progressive  liberation  of  the  elements  associated, 
a    movement    towards    abstraction.       The    growth    of 

306 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

reasoning  may  be  expressed  by  the  increasing  remote- 
ness and  comprehensiveness  of  the  elements  associated, 
the  enlarged  repertory  of  recorded  impressions  out  of 
which  response  is  made  to  the  exciting  stimulus  ;  we 
may  also  naturally  expect  to  find  greater  rapidity  in 
association.  In  the  anthropoid  apes  the  progress  in 
these  particular  directions  increases  with  continued 
approximation  in  structure  to  the  human  brain,  whose 
lowest  types  may  be  placed  in  a  not  unnatural  com- 
parative relationship  with  them.  Especially  with  finer 
discrimination  in  touch  and  the  progressive  liberation 
of  the  fore-limbs  from  purely  locomotor  to  prehensile 
and  tactile  function,  do  we  find  a  correlation  in  cerebral 
advance  that  begins  with  lemuroid  forms  and  is 
continued  through  the  Primates  group  to  man.  The 
close  regional  connection  of  the  higher  **  association- 
centres  "  with  the  motor-areas  concerned  in  the 
movements  of  the  hand  and  arm,  and  even  of  facial 
expression,  suggests  possibilities  of  mutual  influence 
and   reaction. 

At  this  point  the  question  becomes  supremely 
important  from  the  psychological  side.  With  the 
increasing  complexity  of  the  organ  of  mind  the 
psychologist  has  correlated  an  advance  in  mental 
power,  yet  in  this  particular  phase  where  conceptual 
thought,  and,  later,  self-consciousness  emerge,  it  is 
maintained  that  the  degrees  of  physical  difference  bear 
no  relation  to  the  mental  differences  in  kind  that  are 
ultimately  established.  Hitherto,  the  discussion  has 
been  hindered  by  static  conceptions  of  consciousness, 
and  by  hard-and-fast  definitions  of  the  typical  human 
and  animal  mind  that  correspond  to  nothing  in  fact. 
Just  as  some  of  the  older  naturalists  believed  in  isolated 
species,  refusing  to  recognise  intermediate  links,  so 
to-day  there  remains  a  certain  unwillingness  to  realise 

307 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION   OF  NATURE 

the  graded  expressions  of  the  human  mind  as  they 
may  be  found  in  various  tribes.  More  remarkable 
even  than  the  gradations  in  mental  calibre  amongst 
the  higher  mammals  is  the  wide  range  of  mentality 
furnished  by  the  existing  types  of  the  human  species. 
We  can  no  longer  sharply  contrast  the  mind  of  man 
with  that  of  the  lower  animal,  thinking  of  the  former 
as  one  specific  type.  Between  the  Berg  Damara  of 
South  Africa  and  the  European  philosopher  we  have 
an  enormous  variety  of  type,  and  differences  physical 
and  mental  comparable  to  those  between  the  American 
monkey  and  the  anthropoid  ape.  As  we  strive  to  hold 
in  our  minds  not  merely  the  range  and  degree  of  human 
mental  evolution,  but  also  the  range  of  animal  mental 
evolution,  we  shall  not  be  so  disposed  to  emphasise 
"  breaks  "  as  to  find  the  missing  pieces  that  will  make 
the  puzzle  picture  complete. 

For  example,  the  distinctions  so  apparently  broad- 
based  between  abstract  and  concrete  ideas  are  shaded 
out  when  we  realise  that  some  of  the  higher  mammals 
have  generalised  ideas  of  certain  objects ;  the  dog  has 
a  concrete  generalised  idea  of  man  apart  from  the 
particular  concrete  image  of  its  master — the  beginnings, 
that  is,  of  abstract  ideas.  On  the  other  hand,  a  race 
like  the  recently  extinct  Tasmanians  had  no  word  or 
phrase  in  their  language  that  represented  an  abstract 
idea,  and  probably  the  abstract  idea  itself  was  con- 
ceivably attained  by  the  continual  superposition  of 
similar  concrete  images,  till,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
composite  photograph,  the  detail  and  particularisation 
vanished,  and  a  vague  community  and  essence  of 
characteristic  were  left.  Without  speech,  where  art  or 
sculpture  are  unknown,  thought  is  not  expressed,  and, 
unexpressed,  is  probably  rightly  regarded  as  only  faintly 
present.      The  actual  details  in  the  not  unimaginable 

308 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

development  of  self-consciousness  in  direct  continuity 
with  preceding  stages  are  irreproducible  simply  because 
we  do  not  have,  and  never  can  have,  any  direct  record 
of  the  earliest  stages  in  the  evolution  of  language. 
The  Berg  Damara,  neighbours  of  the  Herero  and 
Namaqua,  are  said  to  have  lost  their  own  speech,  and 
now  speak  a  Hottentot  patois.  The  real  language  of 
the  bushman,  rich  in  the  characteristic  clicks,  some 
of  which  passed  over  into  the  Hottentot  dialects,  is 
probably  irrecoverable.  Several  modern  tribes  are 
unable  to  count  beyond  three  or  four.  In  short, 
abstract  and  concrete  ideas  are  not  so  absolutely  un- 
related to  one  another  as  the  usual  definitions  imply. 
We  can  even  arrange  a  gradational  series  amongst 
modern  types  of  higher  mammal  and  lower  savage — 
a  series  that  assuredly  has  no  genetic  value,  but  which 
would  represent  closely  graded  stages  of  mental 
advance.  Far  down  below  that  scale  linkages  of  mental 
impressions  first  occur,  speedily  forgotten  and  drawn 
within  narrow  limits.  Progress  consists  in  the  retention 
of  impresses,  the  enlargement  of  the  field  of  linkage,  the 
disengaging  of  that  individuality  that  is  not  subject  to 
the  unconsidered  utilitarian  determination  of  action. 
Man  shares  the  capacity  in  common  with  many  lower 
forms  of  having  Hnkages  arise  in  his  mind  between 
"  situations  or  sense  impressions  and  acts  " ;  only  the 
ability  to  learn  by  selection  of  impulses,  a  power  of 
freedom  that  only  very  slowly  emerges  and  is  still 
evolving,  is  infinitely  greater  in  his  case  than  in  theirs, 
and  this  ability  is  further  obscured  by  his  peculiar 
faculty  "of  thinking  about  things  and  rationally  directing 
action  in  accord  with  thought."  ^  We  may  not  merely 
compare  the  perceptual  abilities  of  man  and  the  lower 
animals,  and  the  possibilities  of  progress  through  "  trial 

^  Animal InlelHgence,  by  E.  L.  Thoindike,  p.  285. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

and  error"  and  association,  the  selection  meantime 
being  more  passive  than  active  on  the  part  of  the 
organism  even  if  accompanied  by  pleasure  and  profit ; 
but  we  can  actually  trace  the  development  of  these 
abilities  into  that  conceptual  stage  characteristic  of 
man  in  which  the  selection  is  active,  and  determined 
more  by  himself  than  by  the  environment. 

To  have  traced  progressive  stages  in  the  evolution 
of  the  organ  of  mind  is  not,  however,  necessarily  to  have 
proved  the  evolution  of  mind.  Yet  in  the  light  of  the 
historical  argument,  within  the  records  of  the  human 
race  alone,  the  probability  of  such  an  evolution  almost 
amounts  to  certainty.  In  an  antiquity,  to  which  every 
year  of  recent  study  and  discovery  seems  to  have 
added  thousands  of  years,  we  can  demonstrate  along 
particular  lines  a  progressive  advance  in  cranial  capacity, 
to  which  there  must  have  corresponded  a  definite 
mental  evolution,  which  is  repeated  in  the  individual 
life-history.  In  the  early  stages  the  human  brain 
passes  through  phases  broadly  comparable  to  the  brain 
of  the  fish,  of  the  reptile,  of  the  marsupial,  and  of  the 
young  anthropoid,  till  we  are  startled  into  considering 
why  it  is  that  this  last  stage  so  comparatively  slowly 
passes  into  the  typically  human  form.  Later,  the 
actual  passage  through  the  stages  of  reflex,  sensation, 
consciousness — for  a  period  the  child  speaks  of  itself  in 
the  third  person — and  self-consciousness  is  made  ;  there 
at  least  the  terms  do  have  genetic  connection  so  far  as 
that  is  possible.  Up  till  the  end  of  the  first  year  the 
intellect  of  the  infant  Is  largely  of  the  animal  type, 
the  sole  apparent  difference  being  in  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  the  linkages :  reasoning  and  ideational 
life  have  not  yet  arisen.  Possibly  the  evolution 
follows  the  direction  indicated  by  Thorndike  of  passing 
from  the  animal  characteristic  of  feeling  things  in  gross, 

310 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

to  the  characteristic  of  human  thought  which  "  breaks 
up  gross  total  situations  into  feelings  of  particular 
facts."  1  But  to  maintain  that  there  is  no  solution  in 
the  facts  of  the  ontogenetic  history,  and  to  insist  on  the 
uniqueness  of  the  human  series  because  it  starts  with  a 
fertilised  egg-cell  that  has  in  it  all  the  potentialities  of 
the  later  development,  is  to  forget  that  no  succeeding 
stage  could  ever  be  reached  without  some  transaction 
with  the  environment,  and  that  even  that  initial  stage 
is  not  strictly  such,  as  the  germ  cell  in  either  case  is 
linked  with  a  whole  antecedent  heritage. 

So  far  we  have  outlined  stages  in  a  possible  develop- 
ment of  the  organ  of  consciousness  and  of  intelligence 
in  particular,  but  no  real  understanding  of  the  question 
is  possible  without  a  fuller  reference  to  those  peculiar 
activities  grouped  under  the  name  of  instinct.  Especially 
in  the  case  of  insects  have  they  reached  a  remarkable 
stage  of  development.  In  many  cases  instincts  are 
peculiarly  complicated,  and  the  solution  of  the  riddle 
of  their  origin  has  not  made  any  recent  great  advance. 
Geology  reconstructs  for  us  periods  when  as  yet  there 
was  no  winter  (e.g.  prior  to  the  late  Carboniferous),  and 
we  may  well  suppose  that  some  of  the  extreme  racial 
instincts,  e.g.  of  insects,  were  evolved  in  reaction  with 
the  changed  conditions  that  a  lowered  temperature 
involved.2  The  development  of  the  seasons  with  their 
contrasted  temperatures  involved  an  acceleration  of 
phases  of  the  life-history — perhaps  of  the  whole  of  it  in 
the  case  of  some  insects — induced  migration,  additional 
protection  for  eggs,  and  other  instinctive  actions. 
During  such  profound  changes  the  modifiability  and 
adaptability  that  are  characteristic  of  all  living  matter 
would   be  peculiarly  liable  to  be   moulded   by  the  en- 

^  Thorndike,  op.  cit.  p.  289. 

^  P.  Hachet-Souplet,  La  Getiise  des  Instincts^  p.  320. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION   OF  NATURE 

vironmental  pressure    into    those    rigid   associations   of 

sensation    and    reaction    that    are    known    as    instincts. 

Physically  we  must  assume  the  connection  of  instinct 

with   the    nervous   system,   and   it  has  always  been   a 

plausible    supposition    that  instinctive   actions   are    no 

more  accompanied  by  consciousness  than  higher  reflexes 

in  the  human  individual,  or  those  habits  of  unconscious 

memory   or    inference   with   which   human   psychology 

is    acquainted.       The    analogy    between    the    different 

castes    of  an    ant  community   and   the  tissues  of  the 

human   body  is  certainly  closer  than    any   that    could 

be   established    between    the    powers    of   the   ant  and 

human     brains.        Ordinarily,     instinct     is     supposed 

to     be     independent     of    intelligence,    yet     purposive, 

unaffectable     by     experience,     involving    the     activity 

of   the    whole   animal,    and    adapted    to    the    survival 

of  the   species.      Recent  research  shows   that   no  such 

hard-and-fast    definition    is    tenable.       No    instinct    is 

perfect,    and    modifications    and     new    departures    are 

not     unknown.       That    these     departures     have     not 

been    more   definitely   recognised    is    probably   due   to 

the    scant    study    that    has    been    given    to    individual 

insects    and    the    probability    that    only   very   obvious 

deviations  of  great  magnitude  have   been   noted :    we 

should    probably    see    countless    modifications    on     a 

slighter   scale   were   our   vision   and    observation   keen 

enough.      This   loosening   of  the  rigidity  of  definition 

does   not,  however,  make  it  any  easier   to   detect   the 

relation     of    instinct    to    intelligence.      Certainly,    the 

most  extreme  forms  apart,  as  we  ascend   the   animal 

scale  intelligence  seems  to    replace   instinct.      In    man 

at  any  rate   instinctive   action   is   at   a   minimum ;    he 

is  par   excellence   the    educable    animal.       A    common 

view  of  the  relation  between   instinct  and   intelligence 

finds  in  the   former  a  fixation   and  automatic   perform- 

312 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

ance  in  response  to  a  definite  stimulus  of  an  act 
originally  carried  out  with  a  measure  of  intelligence. 
It  is  indeed  tempting  to  suppose  that  in  the  case  of 
man  reflexes  and  instincts  represent  successful  uncon- 
scious perfect  performances  of  activities  that  in  their 
original  moulding  were  the  subject  of  conscious  and 
laborious  effort,  but  which  once  perfected,  leave 
consciousness  free  for  higher  endeavour.  So  far  as 
certain  secondary  instincts  and  habits  are  concerned, 
this  is  no  doubt  what  happens,  but  as  an  interpretation 
of  insect  instinct,  it  must  fail,  proving  too  much,  for  it 
implies  a  degree  of  intelligence  which  could  hardly 
have  stopped  even  with  a  perfectly  developed  instinct 
but  must  have  reached  out  to  some  higher  conquest. 
And  even  if  human  reflexes  are  perfect,  man's  primary 
instincts  certainly  are  not :  indeed  his  most  character- 
istic instinctive  impulses  require  definite  guidance  and 
development,  and  the  same  is  true  of  all  creatures. 
Many  instincts  are  so  complex,  and  involve  adjust- 
ments of  so  many  different  kinds  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  see  how  they  could  have  sprung  into  being,  complete 
and  all  of  a  piece.  The  argument  against  their  muta- 
tional origin  seems  equally  valid  against  their  origin  as 
perfected  instincts.  The  real  difficulty  in  supposing 
that  instincts  are  directly  due  to  intelligence  is  the 
fact  that  most  of  them  have  reference  to  generations 
yet  unborn  of  which  the  individual  insect  has  no 
knowledge :  it  is  not  clear  how  such  benefits  which 
affect  the  race  and  not  the  individual  could  have 
originated  in  individual  acquirements.  The  problem 
has  been  complicated  by  the  tendency  to  dwell  on  the 
instinctive  activities  of  alert  insects,  instead  of  realising 
that  the  solution  must  cover  the  no  less  instinctive 
though  laboured  activity  of  the  mollusc  as  shown,  for 
example,  in  building  its  shell.      Such  a  consideration 

313 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

immediately  rules  out  the  idea  of  instinct  as  lapsed  or 
perfected  intelligence. 

Of  recent  contributions  to  this  vexed  problem  none 
has  created  wider  interest  than  the  solution  offered  by 
Bergson  in  his  L6.volution  CreaU'ice.  "  The  cardinal 
error,"  he  says,  "which,  from  Aristotle  onwards,  has 
vitiated  most  of  the  philosophies  of  nature,  is  to  see 
in  vegetative,  instinctive  and  rational  life,  three  suc- 
cessive degrees  of  the  development  of  one  and  the 
same  tendency,  whereas  they  are  three  divergent 
directions  of  an  activity  that  has  split  up  as  it  grew."  ^ 
His  analysis  of  the  two  faculties  or  modes  of  acting  on 
the  material  world  open  to  life,  the  one  direct,  "the 
faculty  of  using  and  even  of  constructing  organised 
instruments,"  ^  implying  knowledge  of  things  and  con- 
crete situations,^  intension  of  knowledge  abintrally 
acquired,  the  other  indirect,  "the  faculty  of  making 
and  using  unorganised  instruments,"  implying  know- 
ledge of  a  form  (relations),  extension  of  knowledge 
abextrally  acquired,  is  now  familiar,  with  its  conclusion 
of  the  inevitable  failure  of  the  one  mode  as  a  means 
of  interpreting  the  other.  "  Instinct  is  sympathy.  .  .  . 
It  is  to  the  very  inwardness  of  life  that  intuition  leads 
us — by  intuition  I  mean  instinct  that  has  become 
disinterested,  self-conscious,  capable  of  reflecting  upon 
its  object  and  of  enlarging  it  indefinitely."  ^  So  super- 
latively conceived  instinct  is  perhaps  the  nearest 
approach  to  God  that  we  can  discover  in  the  ob- 
jective world.  Yet  the  Bergsonian  conception  of  a 
supra-consciousness  combining  originally  more  than 
instinct,  intuition,  intelligence,  appearing  we  know  not 
where  and  gradually  splitting  into  characteristic  forms 
like  instinct  and  intelligence  in  its  endeavours  towards 

^  Creative  Evolution  (Eng.  trans.),  p.  142.  ^  Op.  cit.  p.  147. 

sp.  157.  ^P.  186. 

3*4 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

self-realisation,  is  difficult  of  application  to  the  facts  of 
organic  life. 

The  ensemble  of  facts  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
characteristic  consciousness  which  we  associate  with 
man  has  evolved  like  any  other  character,  and  that  as 
in  the  Protozoa  we  find  in  rudimentary  form  many 
cell  characters  of  the  higher  creatures,  e.g.  contractility, 
digestion,  assimilation,  respiration, — even  if  the  terms 
do  not  cover  strictly  comparable  activities, — so  also 
with  the  primitive  adaptability  and  modifiability  of 
Life's  first  offspring  was  associated  something  akin  to 
a  dim  or  diffuse  consciousness. 

How  may  we  suppose  that  this   dim   consciousness 
first  arose  in  the  racial  history  ?      Of  the  requisites  of 
life    none   is    more   fundamental  than   food.      Whereas 
the  crystal  grows  by  adding  like  particles  to  itself,  the 
organism   grows   by  taking   in    unlike  particles.      The 
exertion  of  assimilating  the  unlike  must  have  involved 
difficulty.     We  can  hardly  think  of  it  as  an  inherent 
absolutely   automatic   power,  even  when   conceived  in 
terms  of  tactisms.      The  living  creature  lays  hold  on 
the  food;  that  implies  effort  and  energy.      Effort  is  at 
the  basis  of  all  consciousness,  its  concomitant  creative 
condition,  and  if  consciousness  thus  results  from  effort, 
there    must    be    a    diffuse    consciousness    co-extensive 
with   life.      If  the   cell  had   got   food    without    labour, 
there   would   have  been   no  effort  on   its  part,  and   so 
no  development  of  consciousness.      Further,  once  that 
faculty  was   in   any   measure   developed,  any  tendency 
towards  sessility  and  corresponding  reduction  of  effort 
would  have  had  the  effect  of  causing  growth  to  express 
itself  largely  in  the  development  of  protective  structures, 
for  the  animal  and  the  plant  that  could  not  avoid  peril 
by  moving  out  of  the  locality  of  danger  had  to  protect 
itself,  and  sensitivity,  thus  shielded,  failed  to  advance. 

315 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

But  further,  in  these  simpler  organisms,  psychical 
life  must  have  been  wholly  instinctive  in  character, 
sensation  and  reaction  being  welded  under  the  direct 
determining  pressure  of  the  environment  into  specific 
activities.  Later  a  stage  came,  not  exactly  definable, 
when  within  that  sphere  of  instinct  the  original  diffuse 
consciousness  began  to  condense  into  consciousness  as 
we  know  it  expressing  itself  as  intelligence.  Already 
low  down  in  the  scale  of  life,  as  we  have  seen,  we  be- 
come aware  in  nascent  form  of  the  distinctive  feature 
of  consciousness  as  we  behold  it  in  man — namely,  its 
timeless  ability  to  disengage  and  recombine  impresses 
from  sensations  received  at  different  times,  for  the 
present  good  of  the  organism.  Something  interpolates 
itself  between  the  stimulus  and  the  immediate  reaction 
historically  impressed  upon  the  organism  by  the  en- 
vironment (reflex).  The  interloper  selects  amongst 
past  and  present  impresses  and  to  that  extent  modifies 
reaction  :  herein  lies  the  possibility  of  education.  The 
bionomic  value  of  such  a  power  is  at  once  evident. 
This  with  its  growing  capacities  of  realisation,  assertive 
selection  and  rearrangement  of  inferences,  and  pene- 
tration into  subtler  aspects  of  the  environment,  is  what 
is  known  as  consciousness.  By  means  of  sensation  it 
becomes  symbolically  aware  of  aspects  of  the  environ- 
ment, for  the  subjective  qualitative  sensations  of  colour 
are  transmuted  by  it  out  of  differing  quantitative  ethereal 
vibrations. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  insects,  for  example,  their 
low-level  consciousness  had  less  resource  ;  through  a 
generally  more  limited  set  of  sense  organs  they  had 
not  such  wide  possibilities  of  interaction  with  the 
environment,  which  therefore  moulded  their  impulsive 
activities  in  well-marked  instincts.  The  apparent 
perfection   and   definition   arise  from   the  great   age  of 

316 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

the  insect  phylogenetically,  associated  with  their 
extremely  short  ontogenetic  history.  The  latter 
demanded,  and  the  former  has  produced  a  noticeable 
limitation  and  exactness  of  life  activity.  Man,  by 
contrast,  is  phylogenetically  of  yesterday  compared 
with  the  insect.  Consequently  there  has  been  little 
grooming  or  definite  moulding  of  his  instinctive  im- 
pulses, and,  further,  this  function  of  environment  is 
increasingly  taken  over  by  the  highly  developed  con- 
sciousness accompanying  them,  which  is  able  to  turn 
the  edge  of  Natural  Selection  and  control  the  instincts 
in  large  measure  in  accordance  with  other  aspects  of 
the  environment.  In  virtue  of  this  actively  selective 
power  of  consciousness,  this  plasticity  in  response  to 
environmental  stimuli,  this  capacity  for  control  of 
instinctive  impulse,  man  shows  himself  supremely  edu- 
cable.  Will  is  simply  the  assertion  of  an  individuality 
which  refuses  to  assent  to  the  forced  determination  of 
the  environment  without  consideration — which  may 
dissent,  but  can  also  consent.  Free  will  and  conscious- 
ness alike  are  progressively  developing  faculties.  In 
these  activities  man  is  peculiarly  aided  by  his  innate 
powers  of  memory — the  capacity  to  make  mental 
acquirements  and  revive  conscious  experience.  The 
experience  of  the  lower  creatures  is  in  comparison  with 
his  a  somnambulistic  series  of  disconnected  moments, 
a  continual  consciousness  of  the  present,  in  v/hich 
only  scantily  are  experiences  greeted  as  familiar  or 
unfamiliar. 

We  thus  conceive  of  a  diffuse  consciousness  ac- 
companying the  instinctive  impulses  that  express  the 
life  of  humbler  forms,  which  was  yet  unable  to  mould 
them,  this  function  being  performed  by  the  environment. 
In  fact  their  instincts  are  a  partial  reflection  of  the 
mind  of  the  environment  in  its  ultimate  sense.      But  as 

317 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

life  progresses  and  consciousness  develops,  the  latter 
interacts  with  various  aspects  of  the  environment  in 
the  control  and  moulding  of  the  instinctive  impulses 
which  are  still  there  and  have  also  developed  though 
not  to  the  same  extent.  Consciousness,  however,  is 
basal  and  primary ;  it  is  even  not  impossible  that 
activities  which  appear  completely  reflex  and  instinctive 
now  were  more  directly  accompanied  (though  not  pro- 
duced) by  consciousness  at  an  earlier  phylogenetic 
stage.  "  Certain  facts  in  the  comparative  physiology 
of  the  vertebrate  nervous  system  tend  to  show  that  in 
the  lower  forms  (amphibia)  a  certain  degree  of  con- 
sciousness presides  over  the  functions  of  the  spinal 
cord,  which  in  mammals  is  devoted  to  reflex  actions."  ^ 
On  the  views  that  have  been  enunciated  in  the 
preceding  pages  it  would  appear  that  we  are  left  with 
Consciousness  and  Infinite  Energy  as  two  ultimates : 
we  may  even  venture  to  think  of  the  former  as  the 
informing  spirit  of  the  latter.  What  then  is  the 
relation  of  mind  to  matter?  The  latter  under 
the  electronic  theory  is  finally  interpretable  in  terms 
of  energy — atomic  charges  of  electricity, — so  that  the 
difficulty  does  not  lie  there.  Rather  is  it  in  the  re- 
lation of  the  individual  consciousness  to  its  "  brain." 
All  assumptions  of  a  causal,  i.e.  productive  relationship, 
are,  however,  ruled  out  by  the  simple  consideration 
that  if  sense  and  feeling  are  indirectly  allied  with  or 
generated  by  the  inorganic,  e.g.  by  the  grey  matter  of 
the  cortex,  as  on  the  materialistic  hypothesis,  then 
quantitative  relations  must  necessarily  ensue.  Double 
the  quantity  of  grey  matter  will  involve  double  the 
quantity  of  consciousness.  Yet  this  is  precisely  what 
is  shown  not  to  be  the  case.      For  the  brain,  like  many 

^  "  The  Problem  of  Consciousness  in  its  Biological  Aspects,"  C.  S.  Minot, 
Science^  N.S.,  vol.  xvi.  No.  392. 

U8 


MENTAL  EVOLUTION 

of  the  other  organs,  is  a  paired  instrument  consisting  of 
two  cerebral  hemispheres,  and  while  in  the  control  of 
voluntary  muscular  movements  and  in  the  reception 
of  bodily  sensations,  both  hemispheres  are  employed, 
yet  for  all  the  ordinary  and  distinctive  functions  of 
mental  life  —  reasoning,  recognising,  remembering, 
speaking — they  are  wholly  independent  of  one  another, 
and  one  alone  is  used.  Neither  hemisphere,  as  it  were, 
knows  anything  at  birth.  The  individual  employing 
them  has  to  learn  everything,  and  in  learning  he  slowly 
modifies  the  organ.  Yet  in  it  all  he  employs  only 
one  of  the  two  hemispheres,  usually  the  left,  as 
associated  with  the  right  hand  stretched  out  in  the  first 
mute  inquiries  of  childhood.-^ 

Accordingly  it  is  evident  that  brain  matter  in 
itself  does  not  originate  speech  or  thought,  since  both 
hemispheres  would  have  on  all  analogy  contained  such 
centres.  As  a  matter  of  fact  either  hemisphere  can 
function  in  this  way,  but  only  one  is  employed. 
Mental  capacity  is  not  increased  by  the  double  brain 
any  more  than  the  faculty  of  sight  is  doubled  by  the 
paired  eyes.  The  individual  employs  one  of  the 
hemispheres  in  the  development  of  his  thought  and 
speech,  which  accordingly  can  stand  in  no  directly 
productive  relation  to  mind. 

With  such  an  ultimate  in  consciousness  viewed  as 
the  informing  spirit  of  energy,  we  may  conceive  of 
its  progressive  manifestation  through  instruments  of 
increasing  organisation  and  complexity,  each  better 
adapted  for  partial  revelation  and  expression,  till 
finally  in  man  is  produced  an  individuality  that  is  able 
to  come  into  direct  relationship  with  the  Ultimate  in  its 

1  V^ith  left-handed  individuals  the  speech  area  is  found  in  the  right 
hemisphere.  See  W.  H.  Thomson,  Brain  and  Personality,  where  the 
whole  question  is  fully  discussed. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

most  personal  aspect.  What  the  nature  of  the  inter- 
action between  spirit  and  matter  is  we  do  not  fully 
comprehend :  theories  of  parallelism  are  as  little 
helpful  as  the  old  idea  of  production  and  secretion. 
That  which  was  in  the  beginning  was  self-conscious 
spirit.  Its  manifestations  may  change  with  the  pro- 
cesses of  the  suns,  but  those  that  develop  into  likeness 
with  itself  share  in  its  eternal  glory. 


320 


CHAPTER    XIV 

EVOLUTION  AND  MORALITY 

At  no  point  in  the  discussion  of  Evolution  is  it  more 
important  to  remember  with  Henry  Drummond  that 
to  give  an  account  of  a  thing  is  not  to  account  for  it, 
than  in  considering  the  relation  of  evolution  to  morality. 
The  subject  is  closely  related  to  the  evolution  of  mind. 
We  have  noted  a  broad  difference  of  degree  between 
the  mental  life  of  man  and  those  forms  that  are  lower 
in  the  animal  scale.  Whereas,  in  the  latter  we  see  a 
life  that  is  largely  tactic  and  automatic,  a  consciousness 
that  is  mainly  perceptive  and  impulsive,  a  responsive- 
ness that  is  singular  or  instinctive,  in  man  we  find  a 
growing  freedom  and  increased  selective  possibility  of 
response,  while  the  conceptual  character  of  his  mind 
enables  him  not  merely  to  interrogate  and  anticipate 
the  environment,  but  also  to  put  himself  under  the 
inspiration  of  ideals  or  ends.  In  such  union  with  the 
environment  he  works  its  work,  and  in  a  sense  selects 
himself  for  survival.  In  a  peculiar  way  also  the 
evolution  of  morality  is  almost  a  function  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  society.  Morality  has  no  significance  apart 
from  the  relation  of  an  individual  to  some  other 
individual,  human  or  divine. 

As  in  much  else,  we  find  that  Darwin  made  the  first 
attempt  to  treat  of  the  origin  of  the  moral  nature  in 
X  321 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

accordance  with  evolutionary  principles.-^  For  him 
the  moral  sense  is  an  instinct  similar  in  origin 
and  character  to  other  instincts.  In  order  to  be 
morally  right  any  line  of  action  must  result  in  some 
advantage,  in  which  case  the  adoption  of  such  line  of 
action  would  be  fostered  by  natural  selection.  So 
far  as  illustration  is  chiefly  offered  by  Darwin,  the 
advantages  are  to  other  members  of  the  same  com- 
munity, i.e.  the  moral  nature  is  traced  to  the  social 
instincts  of  certain  gregarious  animal  forms  and  of 
savages,  which  in  turn  are  probably  a  development  of 
the  parental  or  filial  instincts.  In  some  cases  the 
illustration  bears  more  directly  on  the  individual  life. 
Thus  the  bird  that  finds  its  food  supply  diminish  under 
the  severity  of  a  northern  winter  can  find  salvation  in 
migration.  However  this  instinct  arose,  it  obviously 
is  of  individual  and  racial  importance.  In  obedience, 
therefore,  to  the  demands  of  the  environment  it  has 
to  migrate.  But  if  the  bird  could  incipiently  realise 
its  relationship  to  present  and  future  conditions  it 
would  incipiently  realise  that  it  "  ought "  to  migrate. 
Already  even  at  this  stage  a  struggle  may  be  noticed 
between  conflicting  instincts,  as  when,  "  late  in  the 
autumn,  swallows,  house-martins,  and  swifts  frequently 
desert  their  tender  young,  leaving  them  to  perish  miser- 
ably in  their  nests."  ^  In  the  sequel,  those  individuals 
will  be  preserved  under  natural  selection  whose  most 
assertive  instincts  prove  to  be  the  best  adapted  to  their 
good.  In  the  case  of  man,  intelligence  enables  him  to 
understand  his  social  instincts  inherited  from  earlier 
stages,  and  the  realisation  of  the  opinion  of  his  fellows 
will  begin  to  act  as  a  factor  in  his  surrender  to  one  or 
other  of  competing  instincts ;  indeed,  such  a  consider- 

^  The  Descent  of  Man,  chapters  iv.  and  v. 
2  Op.  cit.  p.  165. 

322 


EVOLUTION  AND  MORALITY 

ation  may  ultimately  come  to  be  of  more  importance 
than  the  pain  or  pleasure  associated  with  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  instinct. 

As  civilisation  advances,  and  the  smaller  tribal 
companies  of  earlier  periods  united  in  the  larger  social 
communities  of  later  days,  the  individual's  destiny 
becomes  more  firmly  bound  up  with  that  of  the  larger 
whole,  even  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  smaller 
collective  unit.  The  growing  differentiation  of  this 
whole  makes  him  increasingly  dependent  on  it. 
Natural  selection  therefore  tends  to  accentuate  the 
qualities  that  make  for  tribal,  rather  than  for  individual, 
survival.  Now,  tribal  strength  is  expressed  in  mutual 
dependence  and  union,  in  loyalty  and  courage,  and  in 
the  exercise  of  these  qualities  the  individual  comes  to 
subordinate  his  personal  advantage  to  that  of  the  tribe, 
and  so  tends  to  ensure  their  survival  and  development. 
Those  qualities  tending  to  the  advantage  of  the  com- 
munity, and  so  secondarily  to  that  of  the  individual, 
are  taught  and  practised  from  generation  to  generation 
till  they  become  inherited  habits.  In  the  end  their 
utilitarian  character  takes  on  an  aspect  of  authority. 
Man  in  virtue  of  his  conceptual  powers  formulates 
rules  of  conduct  which  serve  as  the  collective  morality 
of  the  tribe,  observances  which  are  respected  now  as 
duties,  and  as  such  conscientiously  performed.  "  Ultim- 
ately our  moral  sense  or  conscience  becomes  a  highly 
complex  sentiment — originating  in  the  social  instincts, 
largely  guided  by  the  approbation  of  our  fellow-men, 
ruled  by  reason,  self-interest,  and  in  later  times  by 
deep  religious  feelings,  and  confirmed  by  instruction 
and  habit."  ^ 

Ideas  closely  related  to  the  above  have  been  ex- 
panded   into   systems   of  scientific   ethics    by  Clifford, 

^  Op.  cit.  p.  203. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

Spencer,  and  others.^  Broadly,  however,  they  come 
under  the  same  limitation  of  presenting  the  develop- 
ment not  so  much  of  morality  as  of  its  physiological 
basis,  of  giving  accounts  of  the  external  aspects  of 
moral  progress  and  of  the  development  of  the  apparatus 
of  the  moral  nature,  but  not  accounting  for  morality. 
Darwin  gives  suggestive  descriptions  of  the  origin  of 
definite  instincts,  and  then  says  that  they  comprise 
man's  moral  nature.  But  is  it  possible  on  such  a  view 
to  state  broadly  which  instincts  go  to  constitute  that 
moral  nature,  and  at  what  stage  others  which  were  not 
initially  so  constitutive,  became  so  ? 

We  can  see  that,  in  its  earlier  stages,  moral  char- 
acter— and  especially  is  this  true  of  all  those  elements 
that  are  distinctively  social  in  their  expression — may 
be  subjected  to  natural  selection  much  as  physical 
characters.  The  fact,  however,  that  it  is  possible  to  trace 
the  development  of  morality  does  not  necessarily  imply 
that  that  development  has  throughout  followed  the 
method  of  development  of  physical  characters.  In  the 
case  of  the  latter,  natural  selection  has  played  a  very 
important  part.  But  in  the  case  of  the  former,  just 
in  proportion  as  the  character  becomes  distinctively 
moral  does  natural  selection  cease  to  have  to  do  with 
its  development.  The  moral  character  is  like  the 
student  that  has  passed  beyond  the  capacities  of  his 
early  instructor :  the  latter  ceases  to  have  any  hold 
on  him.  It  is  impossible  to  indicate  the  precise  point 
where  the  change  is  effected,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the 
development  of  other  critical  capacities.  The  early 
stages  are  forwarded  by  natural  selection,  but  a  point 
comes  where  the  individual  takes  a  direct  and  active 

^  Cf.  more  recently  The  Origin  and  Developnient  of  the  Moral  Ideas,  by 
Edward  Westermarck  ;  and  Morals  and  Evolution :  A  Study  in  Com- 
parative Ethics^  by  L.  J.  Ilobhouse. 

3^4 


EVOLUTION  AND  MORALITY 

part  in  moulding  and  fashioning  the  characters  in  ques- 
tion. This  abrogation  of  natural  selection  is  clearly 
visible,  as  Professor  Sorley  maintains/  at  that  stage 
where  sympathy  and  benevolence,  universally  estab- 
lished, continue  to  grow  and  expand,  although  that 
growth  as  universal  is  no  longer  of  the  character  of  a 
survival-determining  factor,  inasmuch  as  no  particular 
community  is  being  benefited  by  such  exercise  at  the 
expense  of  others.  In  fact,  on  theoretical  grounds  the 
opinion  might  be  regarded  that  such  a  growth  would 
be  an  element  making  for  elimination.  The  characters 
in  question  grow  and  become  more  general,  but  not  as 
the  result  of  a  natural  selection,  where  all  show  them 
in  the  survival-determining  degree.  They  grow  and 
become  more  general,  and  in  precisely  that  degree  do 
they  eliminate  the  possibility  of  that  rivalry  which  is 
of  the  essence  of  natural  selection.  It  is  perfectly 
possible  to  describe  the  differing  outward  expressions 
of  morality  that  have  characterised  successive  stages 
in  human  evolution,  but  the  notorious  failure  of  many 
attempts  at  explanation  of  the  ways  in  which  savage 
races  behave  to-day  makes  all  theorising  with  regard  to 
past  conditions  very  precarious,  whilst  the  endeavours 
to  deduce  or  construct  from  such  an  evolutionary 
account  of  morality  something  of  the  nature  of  an  ideal 
or  end  of  conduct  now,  is  a  task  of  superlative  difficulty. 
To  associate  it,  e.g.^  with  the  most  persistent  impulses  in 
human  nature — those  that  have  been  productive  of  the 
most  abundant  and  most  harmonious  life — is  to  take 
that  ideal  from  the  past ;  but  to  find  an  ideal  in  the 
past  is  to  surrender  the  idea  of  progress.  As  with 
every  character  physical  or  spiritual,  the  real  problem 
is  not  that  of  survival,  but  of  arrival,  not  of  persistence, 
but   of   origin.      Here    the    initial   crisis    seems    to   be 

^  Ethics  of  Naturalism y  p.  153. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

directly  dependent  on  the  dawning  of  self-consciousness 
and  that  reflection  upon  ends  that  constitutes  a  new 
dimension  in  which  evolution  thereafter  proceeds. 
Again,  there  is  no  absolute  break,  but  there  is  the 
emergence  of  a  new  phase  of  evolution,  when  the  in- 
dividual in  conscious  relation  with  the  spiritual  environ- 
ment participates  directly  in  the  progressive  move- 
ment. "  If  I  were  called  upon  to  exhibit  the  chief 
determinants  of  human  life  as  a  single  chain  of  causes 
and  effects  ...  I  should  do  it  thus.  Working  back- 
wards, I  should  say  that  culture  depends  on  social 
organisation  ;  social  organisation  on  numbers  ;  numbers 
on  food  ;  and  food  on  invention."  ^  At  either  end  of 
this  simplified  series  of  determining  elements  in  human 
life  is  a  spiritual  factor, — the  tool-using  capacity  that 
is  so  characteristic  of  man,^  culture  significant  of  mind. 
In  accompaniment  of  all  this,  morality  evolved,  being 
shaped  by  human  beings  even  yet  in  process  of  acquiring 
freedom  of  will  and  in  the  way  to  attaining  individuality. 
As  the  result  of  notable  investigations  we  have 
learned  a  very  great  deal  about  the  development  of 
morality.  Yet  after  all,  moral  character  represents 
but  a  certain  way  of  struggle — a  method  rather  than 
actual  quality,  measurable  and  determinate.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  -goodness  in  itself,  but  there  is  good 
thinking,  good  speaking,  good  serving.  Accordingly 
the  origin  of  customs  presents  no  difficulty  in  a  sense, 
for  ultimately  they  simply  represent  different  kinds  of 
ways  of  doing  things.  Customs  are  forms  of  social 
activity  synchronous  with  human  life ;  what  we  want 
to  learn  is  why  one  way  of  doing  the  same  thing  rather 
than    another    way    was    selected.      If   the   "  primitive 

^  R.  R.  Marett,  Afithropology,  p.  155. 

"^  Cf.  emphasis  laid  on  Ilofno  faber  by  H.  Bergson,  Creative  Evolution^ 
p.  146. 

326 


EVOLUTION  AND  MORALITY 

moral  idea  is  simply  a  subjective  reflection  of  the  customs 
of  the  tribe,"  which,  sanctioned  by  tradition  and  repre- 
senting that  which  every  one  did,  had  "  its  echo  in 
the  consciousness  of  the  individual  as  the  standard  of 
right,"  1  we  want  to  know  why  it  took  one  particular 
form  rather  than  another.  It  is  said  of  the  original 
Tasmanians  that  they  had  no  abstract  terms  in  their 
language,  e.g.  for  right  and  wrong,  but  that  does  not 
mean  that  in  their  actual  life  they  did  not  recognise 
certain  actions  as  things  to  be  done  and  certain  others 
as  things  not  to  be  done,  i.e.  as  right  and  wrong.  No 
tribe  will  ever  be  found  without  the  rudiments  of 
morality,  without  customs,  because  these  represent 
fundamental  distinctions,  different  ways  of  doing  things 
that  were  a  part  of  life  itself  To  reflection  alternatives, 
in  some  cases  numerous  possibilities,  are  always  open  ; 
and  religion,  which  was  at  first  intimately  associated 
with  morality,  is  a  distinctive  human  characteristic  to 
which  it  is  foolish  to  look  for  analogies  in  the  lower 
creation,  as  it  implies  amongst  other  elements  the 
power  of  reflection.  Nothing  is  more  distinctive  of 
man  than  his  religious  capacity,  that  attitude  of  mind 
which,  in  its  recognition  of  dependent  vital  relationship 
to  a  more  fundamental  Power,  controls  conduct.  Con- 
ceivably, certain  of  the  elements  that  comprise  the  religi- 
ous attitude  may  be  traced  in  a  modified  degree  to  the 
lower  creation,  particularly  in  such  forms  as  have  been 
closely  associated  with  man,  but  in  default  of  the 
power  to  comprehend  a  universal  it  is  playing  with 
words  to  attribute  religion  to  the  lower  creation. 
Religion  expresses  awareness  of  the  essentially  spiritual 
nature  of  man,  and  of  the  natural  desire  for  linkage 
and  communion  with  the   Spiritual    Source  of  things. 

1  "Evolutionary  Ethics,"  by  W.    R.    Sorley,   The  Quarterly  Review, 
April  1909. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

It  is  the  origin  of  that  initially  groping  outpush  which 
we  call  faith,  those  spiritual  tactisms  that  alone  rightly 
orientate  human  life. 

Human  morality,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  a  constant. 
The  values  have  changed  in  the  course  of  history ;  the 
criteria  are  far  from  uniform  in  different  parts  of  the 
world  to-day.  Yet  it  is  the  highest  developments  that 
must  be  considered  in  any  explanation,  and  it  is  these 
that  give  the  clue.  Even  when  we  have  traced  in  actual 
detail  the  successive  stages  in  the  evolution  of  morality, 
that  would  not  invalidate  the  fact,  which  after  all  is 
the  only  important  one,  of  our  possession  of  such  a 
nature,  or  in  any  way  modify  it,  qua  moral  nature. 
If  conscience  has  a  natural  history,  it  is  none  the  less 
conscience.  If  incipient  morality  can  be  traced  in 
lower  stages  of  life,  that  does  not  make  it  any  the 
less  morality  in  the  higher.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
"  the  further  we  go  in  examining  any  naturalistic 
theory  of  ethics,  the  clearer  does  it  become  that  it  can 
make  no  nearer  approach  to  a  solution  of  the  ethical 
question  than  to  point  out  what  courses  of  action  are 
likely  to  be  the  pleasantest,  or  what  tendencies  to 
action  the  strongest ;  and  this  it  can  only  do  within 
very  narrow  limits  both  of  time  and  accuracy.  As  to 
what  things  are  good,  it  can  say  nothing  without  a 
previous  assumption  identifying  good  with  some  such 
notion  as  pleasant  or  powerful.  The  doctrine  of  evolu- 
tion itself,  which  has  given  new  vogue  to  naturalism 
both  in  morality  and  in  philosophy  generally,  only 
widens  our  view  of  the  old  landscape.  By  its  aid  we 
cannot  pass  from  '  is  '  to  *  ought,'  or  from  efficient  to  final 
cause,  any  more  than  we  can  get  beyond  the  realm  of 
space  by  means  of  the  microscope  or  the  telescope."  ^ 

However    we    may  explain    morality  in  association 

^  W.  R.  Sorley,  Ethics  of  Naturalism^  p.  326. 
328 


EVOLUTION   AND  MORALITY 

with  inherited  instincts  of  racial  good,  however  we 
think  of  race  instincts  of  the  general  good  slowly 
obtaining  the  mastery  over  the  individual  instincts 
associated  with  pleasure,  however  we  may  finally  con- 
ceive of  conscience  as  the  insistence  of  the  cumulative 
racial  experience  of  the  beneficial  and  injurious,  yet 
there  remains  the  fact  that  this  conflicting  issue  be- 
tween the  racial  and  individual  interest  can  never  have 
been  settled  initially  as  the  result  of  the  experience 
that  it  would  lead  to  most  abundant  life.  The  will-to- 
die  often  involved  in  such  subordination  of  personal 
advantage  to  the  good  of  society  as  in  the  palaeolithic 
prototype  of  a  Father  Damien  can  have  involved  no 
knowledge  of  such  good,  and  must  have  often  actually 
resulted  in  the  individual's  death :  the  adoption  of  that 
particular  method  of  struggle  did  not,  at  any  rate, 
repay  Jmn.  So,  once  again,  to  maintain  that  evolution 
supplies  its  standard  of  morality  in  what  actually 
survives  as  the  result  of  natural  selection  is  to  ignore 
much  in  the  physical  zone  of  the  environment  that  is 
unaffectable  by  that  factor.  It  is  wholly  to  forget  that 
the  demands  of  the  psychical  zone  have  often  led  to 
the  immediate  physical  extermination  of  those  who 
yielded  to  them,  but  by  that  very  circumstance  the 
ideals  in  question  gained  a  wider  recognition  and  led 
to  the  survival  of  the  race. 

Such  type  of  action  cannot  therefore  find  its  ex- 
planation in  any  instinct  due  to  a  racial  experience  of 
what  is  advantageous  or  disadvantageous.  It  can  only 
have  been  undertaken  under  the  direct  stimulus  of 
that  spiritual  aspect  of  the  environment  in  communion 
with  which  all  psychical  progress  is  made,  and  whose 
realised  insistence  is  the  "  ought "  of  human  endeavour. 
Such  a  response  whenever  it  occurs  will  doubtless  in- 
clude as  result  the  ultimate  preservation  of  that  in  other 

329 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

lives  for  which  the  sacrifice  is  made ;  it  has  even  meant 
directly  the  preservation  of  the  race.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  suppose  that  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
development  of  morality,  any  more  than  to-day, 
such  a  response  was  given  by  any  great  numbers  of 
individuals.  The  modern  investigator  may  give  an 
account,  speculative  or  otherwise,  of  the  meaning  of 
those  objective  expressions  of  morality  that  take  the 
form  of  tribal  customs,  but  it  seems  probable  that 
this  meaning,  however  true,  is  known  to  but  few  of 
those  who  observe  the  custom.  In  many  instances 
it  has  become  a  tribal  habit,  and  persists  as  a  survival. 
Yet  the  breaking  away  from  that  custom,  as  also  its 
origination,  was  the  result  of  some  commerce  with  the 
spiritual  environment  on  the  part  of  the  individual  or 
individuals  who  instituted  or  dispensed  with  it.  In 
imaginative  reflection  partly — the  result  of  the  working 
of  some  objective  datum  in  the  mind — the  new  custom 
arises ;  how  exactly  the  suggestion  comes  we  do  not 
know.  That  it  should  be  initially  in  great  part  often 
debasing  presents  no  difficulty  to  those  who  believe 
in  the  ascent  of  man  from  an  animal  stock.  Later, 
the  feeling  or  emotion  resulting  from  such  commerce 
may  be  purer  than  its  expression.  But  to  seek  the 
origin  of  the  response  simply  in  physical  aspects  of 
the  environment,  or  in  some  development  of  past  social 
instincts,  to  strive  to  find  the  explanation  of  that  which 
is  of  higher  moral  worth  than  anything  known  up  to 
that  point  in  previous  stages  whose  characters  were  in- 
creasingly animal,  is  to  repeat  in  its  most  disastrous 
form  the  old  error  of  considering  the  developing 
organism  apart  from  its  environment.  The  moral 
nature  in  correspondence  with  God  develops  until  it 
reaches  a  stage  where  the  organism  is  meaningless 
apart  from  the  highest  development  of  its  being. 

330 


CHAPTER    XV 

EVOLUTION   AND   EVIL 

The  problem  of  evil  has  baffled  men  from  the  beginning. 
In  its  direst  form,  that  of  moral  disease  or  sin,  it  has 
miserably  defeated  all  human  efforts  to  cope  with  it. 
To  deny  its  existence  is  something  worse  than  affecta- 
tion :  it  is  moral  suicide.  To  say  that  "the  higher 
man  of  torday  is  not  worrying  about  his  sins  at  all "  ^ 
is  simply  to  refer  to  an  insensibility,  a  numbness  that 
is  the  sure  forerunner  of  spiritual  death:  to  find 
satisfaction  in  the  fact  is  not  to  befriend  humanity.^ 

Evil  as  we  know  it  and  as  commonly  conceived, 
appears  in  two  aspects,  the  one  physical,  the  other 
moral.  Much  of  the  former  is  directly  due  to  the 
latter,  as  may  be  seen  in  any  hospital.  Indeed,  apart 
from  sin  and  its  direct  and  indirect  consequences,  the 
problem  of  evil  is  not  wholly  unmanageable.  In  fact 
it  is  largely  a  relative  effect,  receiving  content  and 
expression  in  the  relativity  of  all  phenomena.  Thus 
consciousness  notes  relations  as  knowledge,  but  these 
relations  are  revealed  through  differences.  Without 
relativity  of  sensation  there  would  be  but  monotony 
of  sense-perception  in  which  nothing  could  be  dis- 
tinguished. A  monotony  of  sound  would  ultimately 
fail  to  arouse  the  sensation  of  hearing.  Truth  would 
not   be   perceived    to   the   same  extent  as  truth  were 

1  Sir  O.  Lodge,  Man  and  the  Universe,  p.  220. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

there  not  falsehood.  So  evil  may  arise  as  the  result 
of  faulty  and  imperfect  expression  on  the  part  of 
phenomena,  for  everything  that  enters  the  phenomenal 
world  is  subject  to  limitations.  It  may  also  arise  too 
easily  from  failure  on  our  part  to  really  understand 
and  orientate  phenomena. 

Further,  all  manifestation  of  energy  involves  a  certain 
overcoming  of  some  reluctance  or  resistance.  As  soon 
as  resistance  is  developed  the  force  comes  into  play — 
a  steamer  would  make  no  headway  without  the  resist- 
ance of  the  water.  No  activity  is  manifested  save  as 
pulses  of  resistance  being  overcome.  Withdraw  the 
resistance  and  the  power  is  impotent.  No  doubt, 
electricity,  if  it  could  think,  would  regard  the  inert 
resistance  of  the  carbon  as  an  evil  to  be  overcome,  but 
in  the  overcoming  the  electricity  is  revealed  and  would 
be  self-realised.  Physical  evil  is  a  real  thing  to  us  in 
the  process  of  the  attainment  of  goodness,  but  it  is  the 
attaining  which  is  the  most  real  and  most  necessary 
thing  to  us.  Evolution,  in  its  insistence  on  the 
essentially  dynamic  and  developing  character  of  the 
world  process,  saves  us  from  the  necessity  of  attributing 
any  absolute  character  to  physical  evil. 

With  moral  evil  the  case  is  otherwise,  particularly  as 
regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  fully  developed 
consciousness.  Here  it  cannot  be  explained  in  the 
sense  that  physical  evil  can ;  it  is  more  absolute  than 
relative.  Nevertheless  a  certain  development  can  be 
traced  in  relation  to  it.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  more 
obvious  in  history  than  the  progressive  raising  of  moral 
values,  so  that  practices  which  at  one  stage  were  good 
as  compared  with  those  of  an  earlier  period  which  they 
have  supplanted,  yet  in  turn  become  indefensible  and 
are  discontinued  in  the  fuller  knowledge  and  heightened 
moral  sense  of  a  later  period.     To  realise  this  is  not  to 

332 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

minimise  or  deny  moral  evil.  It  is  indeed  an  element  in 
the  process,  but  not  the  most  real  element  nor  the  most 
imposing  one.  Reality  appears  as  a  process  in  which 
evil  is  being  progressively  overcome. 

So  far    as   the    individual    is    concerned,  pain    and 
disease  are  the  common   heritage  of    man    and   brute 
alike,  by  reason    of  their   sentient   bodies.     V^e  have 
already  realised  what  is   involved  in  the  capacity  for 
pain,  and  the  extent  to  which   it  operates  as  a  factor 
in   organic  progress.      In  human   experience  pain   has 
often   proved  to  be   God's  kindest  schoolmaster,  hard- 
ship and   affliction   but  courses  in  a  divine  curriculum 
of  Love.^      In   the  tribulation  of   pain    the    individual 
and  the  race  have  learned  more  about  the  real  value 
of  life  than  in  the  ecstasy  of  pleasure.     And  the  more 
one  thinks   of  it,  the   more  difficult  it  is  to   see  how 
spiritual  beings  could  have  been  trained  in  character 
worth  the  name  without   those    special    methods.      It 
is  not  so  much  the  uniting  sense  of  pain  as  contrasted 
with  the  too  commonly  isolating  sense   of   happiness 
that  makes  us  reconsider  the  relation  of  pain  to  evil ;  ^ 
it  is  the  fact  that  the  thing  that  is  thought  to  be  evil 
can   be  transmuted  into  the  fibre  of  a  better,  nobler 
being  by  the  self-controlled,  determined,  and   trusting 
heart  that  places  itself  in  the  right  attitude  to  it. 

Our  problem  accordingly  is  the  account  that  will 
be  given  of  the  origin  and  implications  of  sin  in  the 
light  of  Evolution,  Now  this  compels  us  to  distin- 
guish clearly  what  we  mean  by  the  word  "  sin,"  for 
such  failure  has  been  the  cause  of  much  misunder- 
standing. In  the  Shorter  Catechism  sin  is  described 
as  "  any  want  of  conformity  unto,  or  transgression  of, 
the  law  of  God."  This  must  be  held  to  imply  a 
conscious  moral  agent   (otherwise  the  word  is  logically 

1  Psalm  cxix.  71.  ^  Hibbert  Journal ^  vol.  vii.  p.  129. 

333 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

applicable  to  the  actions  of  the  innocent  child,  the 
untutored  savage,  and  the  man-eating  tiger)  :  it  further 
implies  a  law,  and  knowledge  of  the  law.  "  Whosoever 
committeth  sin  transgresseth  also  the  law  :  for  sin  is 
the  transgression  of  the  law  ; "  ^  "  where  no  law  is, 
there  is  no  transgression,"  ^  and  where  no  knowledge 
is  {i.e.  of  law),  there  is  also  no  transgression.  Were 
these  simple  truths  realised  from  the  beginning  of 
theological  thinking,  much  of  the  confusion  with  re- 
gard to  this  dark  theme  might  have  been  avoided. 
For  not  merely  does  sin  imply  knowledge,  but  its 
source  and  secret  being  lie  in  the  human  will.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  sin  apart  from  sinning  men 
and  women.  Its  apparatus,  so  to  speak,  its  arena 
of  operation  lie  in  our  human  nature  :  its  essence  is 
the  selfish  misuse  of  elements  that  in  themselves  are 
not  inherently  bad,  but  are  rather  neutral  and  unmoral. 
Sin  and  sinful  are  ethical  terms,  and  should  not  in 
strictness  be  applied  to  other  than  the  apostate  will, 
should  not  be  predicated  of  a  nature  that  supplies 
impulses,  which  in  their  direction  and  misdirection  are 
good  or  bad.  Sin,  that  is  to  say,  is  not  merely  a  dis- 
tinctively human  character,  but  is  conditioned  by  the 
stage  of  human  development.  Nevertheless  sin  is 
a  word  of  such  limitless  content  that  we  might  well 
assume  that  in  certain  aspects  we  should  find  analogies 
with  features  in  the  lower  creation.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  we  do,  and  it  is  this  circumstance  that  gives  such 
power  to  certain  passages  in  Drummond's  Natural 
Law  in  the  Spiritual  World.  Few  who  have  read 
the  chapters  on  Degeneration,  Semi-Parasitism,  and 
Parasitism  can  ever  forget  them.  Sin  viewed  in 
relation  to  its  own  character  stands  out  as  the  bad  and 
reprehensible ;    in    relation     to     man     and    what    was 

^  I  John  iii.  4.  2  Rom.  iv.  15. 

334 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

expected  of  him  because  of  what  he  knows,  it  becomes 
the  abnormal,  the  unnatural,  a  departure  from  the 
standard.  In  the  serial  stages  of  arrested  development, 
degeneration,  and  parasitism,  and  in  phenomena  like 
reversion,  we  can  find  physical  analogies  in  the  lower 
creation  that  with  startling  likeness  prove  descriptive 
of  the  mental  and  moral  conditions  of  man. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  asserted  that  to  investigate 
the  history  of  the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin,  or  even  to 
inquire  speculatively,  so  far  as  we  may,  into  the 
conditions  under  which  sin  emerged,  is  not  in  the 
slightest  degree  to  minimise  or  explain  away  the 
terrible,  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin  :  still  less  is  it 
to  question  the  need  for  a  redemption.  We  have  held 
that  the  evolutionary  conception  of  the  origin  of  man 
can  in  no  way  detract  from  the  glory  of  man  as  he  is  : 
similarly  we  assert  that  the  evolutionary  account  of  sin 
can  in  no  way  belittle  its  appalling  significance.  There 
can  be  no  dispute  about  the  fact  of  sin  :  that  is  given 
in  modern  experience.  What  may  be  questioned 
are  certain  received  accounts  as  to  the  origin  and 
implications  of  sin  both  in  the  individual  and  in  the 
race.  And  even  what  is  questioned  is  not  so  much 
any  strictly  scriptural  account  as  a  particular  interpre- 
tation of  that  account. 

This  interpretation,  largely  associated  with  the  name 
of  St.  Augustine,  is  to  the  following  effect.  "  Our 
first  parents,"  to  quote  certain  sentences  from  the 
Westminster  Confession  ^ — "  being  seduced  by  the 
subtilty  and  temptation  of  Satan,  sinned  in  eating 
the  forbidden  fruit.  This  their  sin  God  was  pleased, 
according  to  His  wise  and  holy  counsel,  to  permit, 
having  purposed  to  order  it  to  His  own  glory.  By  this 
sin  they    fell    from    their    original    righteousness,  and 

^  Chap.  vi. 

335 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

communion  with  God,  and  so  became  dead  in  sin,  and 
wholly  defiled  in  all  the  faculties  and  parts  of  soul  and 
body.  They  being  the  root  of  all  mankind,  the  guilt 
of  this  sin  was  imputed,  and  the  same  death  in  sin 
and  corrupted  nature  conveyed  to  all  their  posterity, 
descending  from  them  by  ordinary  generation.  From 
this  original  corruption,  whereby  we  are  utterly 
indisposed,  disabled,  and  made  opposite  to  all  good, 
and  wholly  inclined  to  all  evil,  do  proceed  all  actual 
transgressions."  So  far  as  the  doctrine  of  Original 
Sin  is  construed  as  a  doctrine  of  Original  Guilt — 
imputational  in  the  Augustinian  sense — it  has  been 
rejected  by  the  developed  Christian  moral  sense  of 
to-day :  indeed,  it  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  It 
belongs  to  a  period  in  which  the  value  of  the  individual 
was  as  yet  undeveloped.  The  conception  of  the  solid- 
arity of  the  human  race  may  help  us  as  we  strive  to 
realise  the  universality  of  sin :  it  helps  us  not  at  all 
with  a  theory  of  universal  guilt  as  extending  over  men 
from  one  man's  sin.  So  far  as  the  doctrine  of  Original 
Righteousness  is  concerned,  it  is  too  speculative  a  super- 
structure to  rear  upon  our  first  parents'  ability  to  react 
to  a  command  and  their  awareness  of  their  nakedness. 
Even  were  it  granted,  the  successful  instigation  to  sin 
as  a  psychological  fact  under  such  circumstances  raises 
a  problem  very  difficult  of  solution,  while  the  idea  of 
a  single  isolated  initial  act  with  such  disastrous  racial 
consequences  is  unassisted  by  any  analogous  experience 
in  the  developmental  psychology  of  to-day.  Finally, 
a  doctrine  of  Original  Sin  while  helped  by  our  sense  of 
the  solidarity  of  the  human  race  finds  that  assistance 
only  in  the  physical  side  where  it  is  of  least  assistance  : 
those  nodes  of  individuality  that  we  considered  as 
rising  to  the  surface  of  the  physical  stream  of  life  have 
no  genetic  relation  to  one  another.      Indeed,  all  forced 

336 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

correspondence  of  a  doctrine  of  Original  Sin  to  some 
inherited  corrupt  nature  reduces  the  former  to  an  aspect 
of  physical  evil.^  At  the  same  time  we  have  to  find 
some  explanation  of  that  in  relief  of  which  the  doctrine 
of  Original  Sin  was  promulgated,  viz.  the  paradox  of 
experience  between  the  sense  of  personal  responsibility 
for  sin  and  the  feeling  of  an  innate  bias  towards  evil. 

A  true  doctrine  of  sin  connects  itself  with  a  view 
of  man  as  a  highly  developed  personality.  The 
consciousness  of  sin  varies  with  the  individual :  it 
is  graded  by  the  penal  code.  In  every  aspect  of  it 
there  are  the  basal  principles  of  selfishness  and  lawless- 
ness, which  may  differ  in  degree.  As  the  individual 
becomes  growingly  aware  of  the  beauty  of  holiness, 
his  sense  of  sin  deepens.  Progressively  it  has  a 
history:  at  no  stage  is  there  a  cataclysm.  The 
expanding  antiquity  of  man  enlarges  the  time  area 
within  which  the  development  of  every  quality  that 
characterises  him  took  place,  and  as  this  is  realised, 
the  difficulty  in  positing  any  exception  to  the  gradual 
development  of  his  faculties  will  be  intensified.  The 
evolutionary  conception  compels  us  to  think  of  his 
gradual  emergence  from  the  purely  animal,  a  creature 
of  impulse,  unrestrained,  unconscious  of  the  idea  of 
control.  We  speak  of  baser  passions :  so  far  as  they 
correspond  to  animal  instincts  the  baseness  consists 
simply  in  the  lack  of  control.  Sin  is  a  corollary  of 
knowledge,  but  it  is  the  frequent  exception  to  the 
truth  that  knowledge  is  power.  The  Bible  is  pro- 
foundly right  in  pictorially  conceiving  of  the  entrance 
of  sin  as  due  to  eating  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil. 

We  have  seen  reason  to  believe  in  man's  gradual 
physical     progress,    and     mental    development.       We 

^  Cf.  F.  R.  Tennant,  The  Origin  and  Propagation  of  Sin,  p.  38. 

Y  337 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

naturally  associate  with  this  his  gradual  emergence 
from  an  impulse-governed  existence,  non-moral  and 
animal. 

The  reconstruction  of  those  ages  of  incipient 
morality  is  of  course  for  ever  impossible,  harder  even 
than  the  task  of  tracing  the  evolution  of  mind.  There 
are  no  concrete  expressions  of  such  morality,  as  in  the 
case  of  mind,  till  very  long  after  it  is  there.  None 
the  less  we  may  be  sure  that  in  the  tumult  of  instinctive 
life,  associated  as  that  must  have  been  from  the 
beginning  with  intelligence,  moments  developed  when 
the  mechanism  worked  less  smoothly,  and  in  those 
slower  moments  was  developed  that  which  ever  after 
altered  the  whole  character  of  the  movement.  Man 
in  that  morning  Gdtterddnmierung,  with  his  incipient 
consciousness  of  self  and  awakening  moral  sense  be- 
came aware  of  the  possibility  of  choice  between 
alternatives,  and  knew  these  alternatives  as  higher  and 
lower.  Sin  entered  through  his  voluntary  acceptance 
of  the  lower :  that  is  the  historical  fact.  It  was  that 
which  had  been  done  often  before  in  innocency  of 
anything  higher,  but  so  far  it  was  not  sin.  In  persist- 
ing in  doing  that  which  he  had  formerly  done,  now 
knowing  it  to  be  lower  and  aware  of  other  possibilities, 
he  sinned  and  fell, — fell  back  from  the  realisation  of 
life  on  a  higher  plane.  Having  made  his  fatal  choice 
— a  decisive  choice  that  came  more  easily  the  next 
time — he  was  immediately  overcome  by  a  sense  (neces- 
sarily germinal)  of  remorse,  and  knew  in  himself  that 
he  had  been  for  ever  banished  from  his  garden  of 
innocence. 

Such  history  as  we  have  enables  us  to  trace  in  part 
the  slow  development  of  individuality.  So  far  as  the 
study  of  contemporary  savage  life  assists — and  the 
assistance  is  much  less  than  is  ordinarily  conceived,  for 

338 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

no  modern  savage  tribe  represents  the  unchanged 
descendants  of  forms  that  once  stood  in  the  direct 
line  of  human  ascent — or  the  oldest  historical  docu- 
ments attest,-^  we  obtain  first  hand  witness  to  states 
of  society  in  which  the  tribe  is  the  unit,  the  tribal 
instinctive  custom  the  sole  yet  scant  inhibiter.  Group 
action  signifies  the  failure  of  outstanding  dominance : 
no  individual  has  succeeded  in  that  long  continued 
victory  over  impulse  which  would  work  a  new 
departure.  The  reflecting  mind  has  not  attained  that 
steady  inward  turning  of  itself  upon  itself,  without 
which  there  could  be  no  awareness  of  alternatives 
as  higher  and  lower,  and  which  is  therefore  the  pre- 
requisite of  all  moral  advance :  conscience  implies 
self-consciousness. 

An  external  descriptive  account  can,  however,  in 
no  way  even  summarise  the  inward  process  in  virtue 
of  which  advance  took  place.  Even  could  we  be 
sure  of  the  particular  initial  moment  in  which  an 
individual  became  first  aware  of  alternatives  of  conduct 
as  higher  and  lower  and  voluntarily  chose  the  lower, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  affirm  that  sin  definitely  entered 
at  that  moment.  The  action  was  certainly  sinful, 
but  the  entrance  and  victory  of  sin  has  never  been  a 
momentary  affair ;  it  is  an  age-long  process,  alike  in 
its  origin,  its  persistence,  its  elimination.  Yet  is  there 
nothing  necessary  or  inevitable  about  it.  We  may 
discuss  the  origin  and  implications  of  sin,  never  its 
origin  and  function.  It  v/as  not  a  necessary  stage  in 
the  development  of  man.  The  struggle  is  inevitable,  not 
the  fall.  He  might  have  overcome  in  the  beginning : 
he  might  have  followed  the  gleam.  The  instinctive 
impulse  and  appetite,  strong  in  some  cases  because 
of  their  basal  utility  to  life,  the  conscious  desire  when 

^  Joshua  vii.  15,  24, 

339 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

faced  with  the  dawning  recognition  of  a  higher  if  more 
difficult  way,  present  the  arena  for  struggle  and  re- 
sistance. As  when  the  electric  current  is  turned  on, 
and  the  arc  lights  flicker  and  burn  unsteadily  till  the 
power  avails  to  transfuse  the  recalcitrant  material, 
so  the  darkness  of  man's  early  life  was  only  gradually 
and  fitfully  illumined :  that  there  was  a  return  to 
darkness  at  all  after  the  initial  flash  is  the  statement 
of  the  Fall. 

But  if  the  racial  records  can  help  us  little  in  dealing 
with  what  are  really  prehistoric  moments,  and  the 
evidence  from  contemporaneous  savage  man  is  difficult 
because  in  fact  irrelevant,  there  is  a  line  of  enquiry  to 
which  we  may  turn  with  expectation.  For  if  the 
Recapitulation  Theory  holds  any  truth  in  its  interpreta- 
tion, we  should  expect  that  it  will  not  fail  us  here :  and 
particularly  impressive  will  be  its  verdict  in  the  physical 
field  if  we  should  find  that  in  the  subtler  area  of  the 
spirit,  the  data  as  we  read  them  prove  in  accordance 
with  the  general  line  of  interpretation.  Now  every 
honest  man  who  reads  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis 
feels  that  it  at  any  rate  describes  his  individual  experi- 
ence. For,  as  a  child,  there  was  a  Golden  Age  of 
Innocence  in  his  life,  but  one  day  temptation  came  and 
he  fell.  Consequently  it  is  not  impossible,  nay  it  is 
probable  upon  biological  analogy,  that  the  childhood  of 
the  race  was  lived  in  innocency,  but  that  a  day  came 
when  a  cloud  hid  the  sun.  To  this  we  may  add  the 
testimony  of  many  men,  good  and  bad  alike,  to  a 
feeling  of  uneasiness  and  of  dissatisfaction  in  view  of 
the  fact  of  sin,  to  a  feeling  that  they  are  not  what  they 
ought  or  were  intended  to  be,  to  a  sense  that  they 
have  in  them  some  bias  that  hinders  the  accomplishment 
of  the  resolves  of  their  better  moments.  "  I  find  then 
the  law,"  said  Paul, — and  he  spoke  for  many  a  man, — 

340 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

"  that  to  me  who  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  .  .  .  .  "  ^ 
That  is  to  say,  he  has  the  feeling  that  the  present 
state  of  matters,  this  inner  warfare,  is  not  the  right  or 
natural  one,  that  this  body  of  death  in  him  from  which 
he  prays  to  be  delivered,  is  an  acquired  character — 
acquired,  however,  by  himself 

What  is  the  character  of  the  genesis  of  sin  in  the 
individual  life?  It  is  an  easy  prophecy  that  every 
development  of  child  psychology  and  morality  will  only 
serve  to  bring  the  ontogenetic  story  into  closer  agree- 
ment with  what  we  are  driven  to  think  of  as  the  racial 
history.  V^e  have  already  realised  how  slow  is  the 
dawning  of  self-consciousness,  how  the  child  is  first  a 
bundle  of  sensations,  how  consciousness  arises,  and 
later  on  only  are  the  final  awareness  of  self  and  its  asser- 
tion in  the  will  attained.  Particularly  do  we  see  the 
emergence  from  the  impoverished  instinctive  phase  in 
the  faculty  of  imitation  through  which  the  child  would 
go  beyond  itself  and  ally  itself  with  other  forms  and 
forces.  Similarly  we  are  compelled  to  recognise  a 
stage  in  which  it  is  the  slave  of  impulse.  Out  of  this 
it  passes,  as  the  moral  consciousness  awakens.  Every- 
thing has  to  be  learned  by  the  child,  and  in  those  early 
days  of  non-moral  miniature  animalism  and  later 
savagery,  we  seem  to  have  the  recapitulation  of  the 
story  of  the  race.  How  long  we  wish  they  might 
remain  in  the  garden  of  their  innocence,  but  a  day 
comes  when  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  is  attained, 
deliberately  the  lower  is  preferred  and  they  are  banished 
from  the  garden.  And  the  reason  why  this  failure  is 
persistent  and  has  met  with  only  one  exception  is  not 
because  some  ancestor  failed.  Sin  is  not  an  ancestral 
affair ;  it  is  a  personal  affair.  The  others  have  failed 
for  precisely  the    same    reason    that    he    failed — that 

'  Rom.  vii.  21. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

difficulty  in  struggle  with  the  lower  self  that  comprises 
the  inwardness  of  life,  the  secret  of  all  progress.     The 
characters  are  there — impulses  and  instincts — that  made 
for  survival  in  the  lower  plane,  but  as  the  Environment 
becomes  unmasked  and  the  individual  becomes  aware 
of  the  possibility  of  some  new  conformity,  realises  that 
his  survival  now  depends  on  his  control  of  that  which 
formerly  was    unchecked,    they   come  to  be    regarded 
differently  and  are  the  arbiters  of  his  fate  in  a  new  way. 
If  the  choice  is  made  in   one  direction  with  any  degree 
of    uniformity,    habit    makes     it    easier.       The    moral 
elements  are  like   many  physical  elements :  their  char- 
acter   depends  upon    the    use  that  is  made    of  them. 
Fire  and  water  may  be  for  man's  improvement  or  his 
destruction ;  around    the  lower    appetites    develop  the 
fairest  blossoms  of  human  character  or  its  most  degraded 
expressions  :  and  even  those  other  features  that  are  more 
purely  spiritual  have  possibilities  of  good  and  evil  ac- 
cording to    their    usage  and  their  development.      Sin 
emerges  only  with  the  will,  and  consciousness  of  alter- 
native   action :  it  is    the  surrender  of  the  self  to  the 
lower  dictate,  acquiescence  in  the  old  state  of  affairs, 
failure  to    struggle  towards  the  higher.      Subduing  of 
self,  the  aligning  of  conduct  with  the  glimpsed  ideals 
of  the  race — which  are  simply  the  summed  contribution 
of   individual  glimpses — therein    lies  the  struggle,  for 
impulse  is  instinctive  and  chafes  against  control.      The 
mere  recognition  of  the  possibility  of  restraint  issues  in 
lawlessness,  a  natural  state  of  rebellion  by  the  hitherto 
uncurbed  spirit.     The  curbing  has  been  removed  from 
the  external  physical  sphere  to  the  internal  and  spirit- 
ual.     It  is  a  change  of  control,  with  awareness  first  of 
the  fact  and  then   of  the  necessity  of  control,  and  the 
change  has  arisen  as  a  result  of  the  reaction  <vith  that 
Environment  which  in  its  proximate  aspects  is  physical 

342 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

but  in  its  deeper  essence  is  spiritual.  The  community  of 
life  involving  community  of  tendency  and  so  of  struggle 
has  as  its  corollary  the  universality  of  sin.  Once  reason 
had  arisen  with  its  possibilities  of  permutation  and  com- 
bination in  impulse  and  motive,  it  enormously  extended 
the  area  over  which  sin  could  develop. 

Such,  then,  is  the  view  to  which  the  evolutionary 
conception  leads  us.  It  implies  a  certain  advance  in 
that  critical  moment  in  that  man  now  knew  that  there 
were  courses  of  action  higher  and  lower,  and  that  both 
were  open  to  him.  From  the  history  of  evolution  we 
learn  to  think  in  terms  of  a  gradual  progressive  advance, 
not  of  such  cataclysmal  reversals  or  alterations  of 
advance  and  retrogression  as  the  older  view  suggests. 
It  shows  even  within  the  strictly  historic  period  definite 
progress  in  religious  idealism,  and  we  cannot  be  wrong 
if  from  what  we  know  of  this  curve  of  advance  we 
extrapolate  it  into  the  eras  where  knowledge  is  not  so 
available.  The  religions  of  to-day  contain  vestigial 
remains  of  their  earlier  stages,  as  did  the  Hebrew  re- 
ligion ;  language  and  customs  still  hold  within  them 
evidence  of  their  prehistoric  stages.  Yet  from  no 
quarter  do  we  get  witness  to  a  stage  of  primitive  good- 
ness or  high  culture  from  which  later  stages  represented 
a  persistent  fall.  The  more  we  learn  of  the  history  of 
the  race  the  more  does  the  idea  of  a  lapse  from  a  clear 
consciousness  of  God  and  perfection  of  relationship  with 
Him  into  a  condition  of  universal  savagery  become  un- 
thinkable. Such  an  interpretation  may  perhaps  appear 
more  revolutionary  than  the  change  in  our  views  of  the 
Creation  Narrative.  At  any  rate  it  demands  a  further 
investigation,  and,  as  in  the  other  instance,  we  shall 
best  help  ourselves  by  returning  to  the  original 
narrative  and  endeavouring  to  learn  exactly  what  it 
teaches. 

343 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

In  Genesis  ii.  4-iii.  24  has  been  preserved  the 
Biblical  account  of  the  origin  of  Sin,  an  idyll  of 
haunting  beauty  and  pathos  that  Gunkel  rightly 
describes  as  "  the  pearl  of  Genesis."  Unfortunately, 
as  in  some  other  cases,  the  simplicity  of  the  original 
story  and  its  deep  moral  truth  have  been  overlaid  with 
wrappings  of  later  theologising  foreign  to  the  original 
account,  and  productive  of  seeming  inconsistency  with 
the  less  vital  truths  that  have  been  won  by  the  slow 
progress  of  Science.  This  narrative  by  J,  the  critic 
tells  us,  contains  a  story  which,  though  not  strictly 
paralleled  in  other  Semitic  folklore,  still  has  Babylonian 
affinities,  a  story  that  gives  no  piece  of  scientific  anthro- 
pology, whose  age  is  but  as  yesterday  compared  with 
the  proved  antiquity  of  the  human  race,  yet  tells  us 
that  which  every  man  can  verify  in  the  forum  of 
conscience.  How  largely  we  have  covered  it  with 
later  significance  may  be  gathered  from  the  universal 
identification  of  the  serpent  with  the  Evil  One,  of  which 
there  is  no  trace  in  the  narrative,  by  assertions  of 
original  righteousness  about  those  who  were  indeed 
living  in  childlike  innocence  and  purity  but  had  no 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  by  failure  to  realise 
that  in  the  narrative  itself  there  is  distinct  recognition 
of  a  dawning  moral  sense  which  has  to  be  stimulated 
by  the  imposition  of  a  command.  The  consequences 
of  the  transgression  are  visited  on  the  sinners'  posterity: 
but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  this  sinful  tendency 
is  so  regarded.  Even  the  wonderful  proclamation  of 
perpetual  enmity  between  the  seed  of  the  woman  and 
the  seed  of  the  serpent  has  not  strictly  the  direct 
promise  of  ultimate  victory  that  is  so  often  read  into 
it.  All  that  we  can  literally  gather  is  a  tale  of  lost 
innocence  ^    resulting    from    wilful    disobedience   to    a 

^  "They  knew  that  they  were  naked,"  Gen.  iii.  7. 

344 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

command  :  that  is  the  kernel  of  the  story.  The  Bible 
is  commonly  supposed  to  teach  that  men  fell  from  a 
state  of  original  goodness :  the  study  of  man  indicates 
that  his  fall  was  rather  failure  to  become  that  which 
he  ought  to  have  become,  interference  on  his  own  part 
with  his  normal  development.  However  diverse  the 
two  readings  may  be  superficially,  they  agree  in  their 
representation  of  this  moral  crisis  as  the  consent  of 
the  spirit  to  evil  in  the  form  of  self-indulgence  and 
self-will. 

Concerning  this  stage  of  original  righteousness,  and 
more  particularly  of  that  high  degree  of  culture  and 
intellectual  gift  that  are  commonly  associated  with  our 
first  parents,  it  certainly  is  not  scripture  that  warrants 
us  in  so  thinking.  How  far  Milton  is  again  responsible 
for  the  culture  attribute  is  a  fair  question.  With 
regard  to  the  other  character  which  has  greater  theo- 
logical bearing,  we  may  note  that  even  Paul,  while 
perhaps  connecting  the  sinfulness  of  the  race  with  the 
sin  of  one  man,  yet  does  not  speak  of  him  as  having 
previously  lived  in  a  condition  of  original  righteousness. 
The  traditional  view  represents  a  being  of  noble 
character  and  definite  knowledge  who  yet  does  not 
know  good  from  evil,  and  who  as  the  result  of  an 
imperious  desire  to  know  is  driven  out  into  the  long 
night  of  Palaeolithic  and  Neolithic  experience.  Such 
an  interpretation  violates  not  merely  scripture  and 
history  but  the  moral  sense.^ 

^  It  is  of  some  interest  to  note  that  if  J  gives  us  a  historical  account  of 
man  as  originally  sinless,  which,  however,  is  open  to  doubt,  he  himself 
does  not  connect  this  sinlessness  with  the  divine  image  in  man.  In 
fact,  J  nowhere  mentions  the  divine  image.  That  occurs  only  in  P  (First 
Creation  Narrative),  and  when  P  mentions  it,  there  is  no  corresponding 
reference  to  sinlessness.  That  is  to  say,  the  conception  of  original  righteous- 
ness is  nowhere  connected  with  the  divine  image  by  J,  nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  the  divine  image  connected  with  sinlessness  by  P. 

345 


SPIKITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

In  any  attempt  to  picture  to  ourselves  what  sort 
of  a  primitive  being  man  was,  both  physically  and 
mentally,  we  must  not  suppose  that  we  find  his  replica 
in  the  lowest  races  of  to-day.  Both  mentally  and 
morally  he  must  have  been  very  unlike  them.  All 
that  is  praiseworthy  in  them  would  certainly  have 
been  found  in  him  ;  but  further,  there  was  in  him  the 
potentiality  of  all  that  has  come  to  desirable  fruition 
in  every  aspect  of  life,  social  and  individual,  to-day. 
In  him  lay  that  capacity  for  progress  which  has 
evaporated  in  the  set  modern  savage  races,  whose 
immobility  can  only  be  melted  or  influenced  by 
external  impulses.  And  yet  he  might  have  become 
something  better. 

Man  alone  is  the  author  of  sin  ;  nevertheless  the 
presence  of  moral  evil  as  that  which  is  absolutely 
antagonistic,  contrary  to  the  character  of  God  and 
hated  of  Him,  has  often  been  felt  to  be  an  indictment 
of  the  divine  omnipotence.  All  expression  is,  however, 
limitation,  and  in  the  creation  of  this  world,  peopled  by 
free-willed  human  beings,  we  perceive  a  self-imposed 
limitation  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  In  such  a  world, 
indeed  in  any  world  of  moral  implications,  was  in- 
volved the  possibility  of  moral  evil, — a  possibility  that 
cannot  have  been  unforeseen :  but  for  its  actuality  the 
sinning  individual  alone  is  ultimately  responsible  in 
every  case.  The  divine  purpose  evidently  admitted  of 
the  possibility  of  sin,  but  in  no  way  entailed  it.  Sin  we 
cannot  believe  to  have  been  any  direct  part  of  the  divine 
purpose :  it  is  a  subverting  consequence  of  the  gift  of 
freedom.  About  that  purpose  we  can  be  tolerably  certain, 
for  the  end  of  life  is  the  formation  of  character,  the 
development  of  strong  and  virtuous  spirits  which  may 
be  meet  partakers  of  His  glory.  How  this  could  be 
achieved  without  the  exercise  of  freedom  it  is  impossible 

346 


EVOLUTION  AND  EVIL 

to  imagine,  and  through  such  freedom  sin  entered,  but 
once  it  appeared,  it  gave  God  the  opportunity — an 
opportunity  that  would  not  have  been  offered  in  a 
sinless  world — of  revealing  Himself  in  that  fundamental 
manifestation  of  self-sacrificing  love.  In  the  stresses 
of  our  human  lives  caused  by  evil  and  by  our  own  sin, 
is  given  the  opportunity  for  the  manifestation  and 
realisation  in  us  of  the  redeeming  spiritual  forces  of 
God's  love. 

Man  has  to  overcome  himself,  to  set  himself  free 
from  the  domination  of  the  lower  motive,  to  win  and 
develop  the  will  to  do  right.  The  more  intimate  his 
correspondence  with  the  spiritual  aspect  of  the  Environ- 
ment, the  easier  does  this  become.  In  some  of  its 
proximate  aspects  it  may  appear  to  be  working  against 
him,  perhaps  to  be  dragging  him  down.  Yet  to  every 
action  there  is  an  equal  and  opposite  reaction.  In 
himself  there  is  the  inertia  of  the  gross,  corresponding 
to  what  was  considered  to  be  a  bias.  Original  Sin. 
There  is  the  wilful  opposition  to  be  overcome,  the 
possible  contingency  of  a  free  will.  As  the  individual 
overcomes  the  grosser  forms  of  this  resistance  he 
becomes  more  sensitive  to  its  finer  and  more  subtle 
forms :  possibly  there  will  be  always  something  to  be 
overcome.  Yet  we  may  believe  that  in  the  reaction 
against  evil,  human  freedom  will  increasingly  take  on 
the  form  of  goodness,  and  man  thus  be  brought  into 
growing  likeness  to  God. 


347 


CHAPTER    XVI 

SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

If  that  conception  of  the  sphere  of  Science  from  which 
these  studies  started  is  in  any  degree  correct,  it  seems 
to  carry  within  itself  the  determination  of  her  attitude 
to  miracles.  Whatever  the  miracle  is,  it  is  ordinarily 
conceived  as  something  that  transcends  our  experience 
and  which  is  therefore  in  great  measure  unintelligible, 
although  not  necessarily  incomprehensible.  But  this 
does  not  preclude  its  possibility :  in  fact,  the  whole 
conception  of  the  world  beyond  our  senses  for  ever 
shows  the  unscientific  character  of  the  dogmatism  that 
categorically  asserts  that  miracles  do  not  occur.  It  is 
obvious  from  this  illuminating  idea  that  what  is  not 
known  or  regularly  experienced,  must  be  so  infinitely 
more  and  vaster  than  the  things  we  do  know,  that  in 
dealing  with  the  great  conceptions  of  God  and  the 
Universe  and  their  relation  to  one  another,  all  that 
the  man  of  science  can  tell  us  is  comparatively  little. 
His  realisation  of  the  definite  limitations  of  the  in- 
struments whereby  the  data  for  knowledge  may  be 
acquired,  and  his  sense  of  the  small  proportion  of 
impinging  stimuli  to  which  his  sense-organs  can 
respond,  compel  him  to  admit  the  infinite  possibilities 
of  phenomena  with  some  of  which,  constituted  as 
we  are,  we  can  possibly  never  come  into  relation, 
some   of   which  we    become    cognisant    of   by  means 

348 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

of  such  added  sense  as  the  galvanometric  test,  some 
of  which  we  may  become  aware  of  in  supernormal 
conditions  of  our  mind  or  receptive  organs,  but  which 
nevertheless  are  continually  hinted  at  in  experience 
and  may  very  occasionally  be  realised  in  exceptional 
circumstances.  The  discovery  of  argon  or  of  the 
Rontgen  rays  does  not  mean  that  these  phenomena 
came  into  existence  for  the  first  time  at  the  moment 
of  their  discovery.  They  were  there  all  along,  exerting 
their  definite  though  unrealised  influence  until  the  time 
of  their  manifestation.  On  general  lines,  it  seems 
unscientific  to  say  that  such  and  such  things,  e.g.  any 
specific  miracle,  did  not  or  could  not  have  occurred. 
There  is  no  warrant  in  Science  or  in  anything  that  we 
know  for  saying  that  miracles  do  not  occur.  No  man 
knows  enough  to  be  entitled  to  say  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  carefully  noticed 
that  this  is  not  to  adopt  the  mistaken  attitude  of  an 
older  apologetic  and  base  the  argument  for  divinity  on 
our  ignorance, — and  so  find  God  in  the  gaps  of  our 
knowledge,  or  see  Him  only  in  the  bizarre.  Religion 
has  suffered  from  the  adoption  of  this  attitude,  whose 
natural  consequence  was  that,  with  the  spread  of  Science, 
God  was  banished  from  His  world.  Take  the  case  of 
any  great  discovery, — knowledge  is  ordinarily  acquired 
in  instalments.  At  the  first  stage  the  conception  of 
it  might  be  represented  by  a-{-x,  where  x,  the  un- 
known =  God :  the  next  stage  might  be  represented 
as  a-\-b-\-x,  but  as  the  series  a-\-b-\-c  .  .  .  .  grows, 
X  becomes  a  vanishing  quantity.  The  ideal  of  Science 
is  to  get  rid  of  x,  ix.  the  unknown.  Or  in  particular 
illustration,  we  may  suppose  that  a  savage  tribe 
in  days  gone  by  explained  the  phenomenon  of  a 
solar  eclipse  by  supposing  that  God  covered  the  sun 
with  a  blanket :  this  would  be  an  explanation  wholly 

349 


/ 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

in  terms  of  x.  Later,  under  the  Ptolemaic  theory,  a 
scientific  explanation  of  the  same  phenomenon  would 
be  given  not  wholly  complete,  and  that  we  might  re- 
present by  ^  +  X,  where  x  would  represent  the  mysterious, 
the  unknown  =  God.  Under  the  Copernican  theory  we 
may  be  said  to  have  an  explanation  that  is  represented 
by  a-\-b,  complete  in  itself  But  does  this  necessarily 
mean  that  there  is  no  jr,  that  God  is  driven  from  His 
world  ?  By  no  means :  the  mere  fact  that  in  terms  of 
a-^b  vjQ  can  predict  that  the  next  total  solar  eclipse 
visible  from  any  part  of  the  British  Isles  will  take  place 
on  29th  June  1927  gives  us  a  new  conception  of  "  the 
Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  that  is  cast  by  turning."  We  win  back  on  a 
higher  plane  our  sense  of  divinity  in  thus  realising  the 
stability  of  law,  the  essential  soundness  and  solvency 
of  the   universe.      A    more    correct    representation   of 

these  phenomena  would  be  '-^-^  where  x  might 

X 

represent  the  ideal  of  the  divine  immanence, — the 
continual  sustaining  and  control  of  all  things  by  God. 
We  must  not  lose  our  sense  of  the  fact  of  the  divine 
energising  simply  because  in  some  small  measure  we 
have  come  into  understanding  of  its  method  of  opera- 
tion. 

From  the  question  of  the  possibility  of  miracles,  it 
is  natural  to  pass  to  consideration  of  the  attitude  of 
Science  to  the  question  of  evidence.  Here,  necessarily, 
textual  criticism  of  the  authorities  and  consideration 
of  the  times  and  circumstances  under  which  the 
miracles  were  wrought  will  all  have  to  be  taken  into 
account.  We  shall  have  to  remember  that  all  anti- 
quity believed  in  miracles,  and  that  the  accounts  of 
the  Scriptural  miracles  come  to  us  from  an  age  that 
had  no  conception  of  natural  law  in  our  sense  of  the 

350 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

term.  Even  to-day,  for  great  masses  of  mankind  all 
the  world  over  the  miracle,  in  the  crudest  sense  of 
the  term,  is  a  too  credible  thing.  While  the  allowed 
possibility  of  miracle  requires  us  to  admit  all  the 
Scripture  miracles  for  purposes  of  examination,  yet 
this  does  not  mean  that  all  the  recorded  miracles  are 
even  probable.  It  is  just  here  that  scientific  considera- 
tion of  the  text  and  circumstances  will  offer  its  assist- 
ance and  perhaps  justify  us  in  our  surmise  that  some 
of  the  miracles  associated  with  Elijah  and  Elisha  are 
possibly  popular  tales,  or  that  the  story  of  the  withering 
of  the  fig  tree  may  have  come  over  from  the  realms  of 
parable  into  those  of  miracle.  It  is  a  mistaken  attitude 
to  insist  that  all  the  Biblical  miracles  stand  or  fall 
together.  The  instructive  story  of  the  relation  of 
Joshua  X.  12-14  to  the  Book  of  Jasher  shows  how 
easily  misinterpretation  enters  into  our  understanding 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  is  a  tribute  to  the  value  of  the 
critical  study  of  the  Bible.  Particularly  with  regard  to 
the  miracles  in  the  New  Testament,  we  must  recollect 
that  the  narratives  reflect  the  spirit  of  an  age  that  if 
not  without  elements  of  scepticism  yet  ordinarily 
"  expected  that  Divine  action  would  (as  we  should  say) 
run  counter  to  natural  laws  and  not  be  in  harmony 
with  them,  and  that  the  more  Divine  it  was  the 
more  directly  it  would  run  counter  to  them.  We 
may  be  sure  that  if  the  miracles  of  the  first  century 
had  been  wrought  before  trained  spectators  of  the 
nineteenth,  the  version  of  them  would  be  quite  different. 
But  to  suppose  this  is  to  suppose  what  is  impossible, 
because  all  God's  dealings  with  men  are  adapted  to 
the  age  to  which  they  belong,  and  cannot  be  trans- 
ferred to  another  age.  If  God  intended  to  manifest 
Himself  specially  to  the  nineteenth  century,  we  should 
expect  Him  to  do  so  by  other  means.      We  are  then 

351 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

compelled  to  take  the  accounts  as  they  have  come 
down  to  us.  And  we  are  aware  beforehand  that  any 
attempt  to  translate  them  into  our  own  habits  of 
thought  must  be  one  of  extreme  difficulty,  if  not 
doomed  to  failure."^ 

Again,  with  regard  to  the  scientific  attitude  towards 
the  interpretation  of  miracles,  it  will  be  allowed  that 
Science  cannot  deal  arbitrarily  with  anything  that 
cannot  be  fitted  into  the  network  of  relations  and 
uniformities  as  known  at  any  definite  period  in  history. 
That  which  is,  provided  it  be  duly  authenticated,  even 
if  it  be  unique,  is  a  tyrant  before  whom  all  laws  must 
bend,  for  laws  alone  have  their  validity  and  their  utility 
in  virtue  of  things  which  are.  Each  single  instance  of 
objective  actuality  in  Nature  is  the  result  of  such  a 
mass  of  relations  that  we  cannot  say  what  can  happen 
and  what  cannot.  In  any  case  of  apparent  antagonism, 
the  law  must  give  way,  not  the  duly  authenticated  fact, 
for  the  sole  authority  of  law  rests  on  the  pre-existence 
of  fact.  Nothing  happens  through  law,  though  every- 
thing happens  according  to  law.  The  law  as  known 
while  indicating  something  regulative  of  Reality  yet 
tells  us  nothing  of  what  is  essentially  constitutive  of 
Reality .2  Natural  Science  is  powerless  to  tell  us  how 
in  general  it  is  possible  that  anything  happens,  or  what 
all  can  happen.  There  is  nothing  of  which  we  can 
say  that  it  is  contrary  to  Nature  though  it  may  be 
contrary  to  our  knowledge  of  Nature,  since  we  do  not 
know  the  real  Nature  of  things  so  far  as  it  comes 
under  observation  as  all-effective  Energy,  and  we  are 
therefore  unable  to  gauge  the  possibilities  of  its  pro- 
ductivity.    The   man    of   science    must   never   assume 

^Article,  "  Jesus  Christ,"  W.  Sanday,  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible, 
vol.  ii.  p,  625. 

2  Cf.  A.  W.  Hunzinger,  Das  Wunder,  p.  107. 


SCIEiNCE  AND  MIRACLE 

that  the  limits  of  his  methods  are  the  Hmits  of  Reality. 
And  this  is  the  more  readily  admitted  in  proportion 
to  the  degree  in  which  Science  actually  recognises  the 
incompleteness  in  the  statement  of  her  laws.  There 
is  always  the  possibility  that  the  true  law  in  its  full 
complexity  might  include  the  isolated  miracle.  Thus, 
if  we  consider  the  right-hand  side  of  the  equation 
^J^'^  ±\/x  (x—6)  (x  —  c)  we  see  that  it  contains  the 
root  of  x  —  c.  That  will  be  imaginary  unless  x  is 
greater  than  c:  accordingly,  y  will  not  have  a  real 
value  unless  x  is  greater  than  c.  There  is,  however, 
one  exception  to  this  law,  viz.  when  x  is  zero.  The 
right-hand  side  of  the  equation  has  the  value  zero, 
which  is  real,  and  so  proves  an  isolated  exception  to 
the  general  law,  which  would  yet  need  to  be  included 
in  a  complete  statement  of  the  law.^  Much  more 
important,  however,  is  the  definite  consideration  that 
many  "  laws "  do  not  hold  beyond  a  certain  range, 
and  in  that  measure  are  incomplete  statements.  To 
take  but  one  example:  In  1662  the  Hon.  Robert 
Boyle  published  the  experimental  fact  now  known 
as  Boyle's  Law,  viz.  that  the  volume  of  a  given 
mass  of  gas,  kept  at  a  given  temperature,  is  inversely 
as  the  pressure,  or,  in  other  words,  the  density  of  a 
gas,   at    constant   temperature,    is   proportional   to   the 

1  In  further  partial  illustration  of  the  miracle  as  a  regularly  unique 
phenomenon  may  be  cited  the  peculiar  relation  of  the  density  of  water 
with  varying  temperatures.  When  the  temperature  is  at  212°  Fahrenheit — 
the  point  at  which,  under  normal  pressure,  it  is  transformed  into  steam — the 
density  is  at  a  minimum.  As  the  temperature  falls,  the  density  increases 
until  at  39'2°  Fahrenheit  (4°  Centigrade)  it  reaches  a  maximum.  From 
this  point  down  to  32°  Fahrenheit  water  expands,  i.e.  becomes  less  dense, 
producing  ice,  which  rises  to  the  top,  being  lighter  than  water.  Had  the 
condensation  continued  through  these  last  degrees,  following  some  imaginary 
law  of  contraction  of  volume,  ice  would  have  been  heavier  than  water  and 
would  have  sunk  to  the  bottom,  with  results  that  can  easily  be  realised 
(cf.  Trans.  Vict.  Institute^  vol.  xlii.  p.  244). 

z  353 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

pressure.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  law  is  only 
approximately  true,  and  while  Regnault  showed  that 
for  low  pressures  air  and  nitrogen  are  more  and 
hydrogen  less  compressed  than  if  the  law  were  true, 
Natterer  demonstrated  that  at  very  high  pressures  air 
and  nitrogen  and  hydrogen  are  all  less  compressible 
than  the  law  requires,  and  deviate  the  more  from  it  the 
higher  the  pressure.  The  law  does  not  negative  these 
facts :  they  indicate  its  incompleteness  as  a  statement, 
its  mere  approximation.  The  true  law  is  more  complex 
than  the  simple  relation  that  bears  the  name  of  Boyle's 
Law.  Indeed,  the  mere  fact  that  we  are  dealing  with  a 
developing  process  would  seem  to  imply  the  emergence 
of  new  uniformities  or  an  enlargement  in  our  under- 
standing of  the  range  of  operations  of  the  old. 
Accordingly,  it  is  not  surprising  that  doubts  are 
entertained  with  regard  to  the  universal  validity  of 
such  magistral  generalisations  as  the  conservation  of 
energy,^  or  that  growing  expression  should  be  given  to 
the  view  that  the  laws  of  mechanics  are  not  absolute, 
being,  it  is  stated,^  mere  approximations  in  many  cases, 
and  simply  false  with  regard  to  velocities  comparable 
to  that  of  light.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  progress 
could  be  associated  with  a  closed  system.  Change 
under  such  conditions  could  only  be  kaleidoscopic. 
Yet  there  is  progress  in  the  evolutionary  process. 

It  is,  however,  in  face  of  her  tremendous  and 
certainly  justifiable  belief  in  the  uniformity  of  Nature 
that  Science  has  to  determine  her  attitude  to  miracles. 
This  uniformity  the  theist  explains  as  the  continual 
manifestation  and  product  of  the  divine  sustaining 
activity.     His  belief  in  a  God  who  is  unchangeable,  who 

1  Cf.  Sir  O.  Lodge,  Life  atid  Matter,  pp.  21-23. 

*  Cf.  Nature^  vol.  Ixxxvi.  p.  400 ;   The  Evolution  of  Forces,  by  G.   Le 
Bon,  pp.  6-8. 

354 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever,  not  merely 
in  His  Essence,  but  in  the  fundamental  method  of  His 
working,  bears  some  relation  to  the  scientist's  belief  in 
the  uniformity  of  Nature.  And  whatever  the  interpreta- 
tion of  miracles  may  be,  certain  it  is  that  miracle  as  a 
breach  of  law  neither  science  nor  religion  knows.  We 
have  no  experience  of  anything  crashing  into  the 
network  of  law  of  which  we  are  aware,  and  breaking 
it  down.  If  God  is  exlex^  as  the  old  schoolmen 
phrased  it, — outside  the  order  of  laws  under  which 
we  are  living  and  with  which  we  are  content, — then 
we  have  no  background  for  anything  except  chaos : 
we  not  merely  have  no  miracles,  but  we  have  no 
universe,  no  cosmos.  To  say  that  He  works  accord- 
ing to  law  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  He  is 
reasonable. 

The  advance  of  Science,  whatever  else  it  does,  certainly 
increases  our  sense  of  wonder  in  the  world.  It  is 
not  merely  the  case  that  many  of  the  commonplaces  of 
modern  Science,  e.g.  the  activity  of  the  Rontgen  ray, 
would  have  seemed  wonders — miraculous — to  past 
generations ;  not  merely  the  fact  that  a  great  part  of 
the  original  connotation  of  a  miracle  was  simply  a 
"  wonder "  in  this  very  sense ;  but  as  the  advance  of 
knowledge  opens  men's  minds,  they  come  to  realise 
that  the  whole  is  the  real  miracle,  and  look  for 
miracle  and  find  it  in  the  whole  even  more  than  in  the 
detail.  And  further,  this  advance  of  Science  makes 
many  of  the  recorded  miracles  more  intelligible  to  us. 
Every  advance,  e.g.  of  certain  lines  of  psycho-medical 
science,  all  added  appreciation  of  the  close  relations 
between  the  physical  and  the  spiritual, — of  the  power 
of  mind  over  matter, — help  us  to  understand  better 
Jesus'  miracles  of  healing.  They  perhaps  represent  in 
a     superlative     degree     the     power    whereby    through 

355 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

suggestion  men  and  women  are  even  now  cured  of 
debasing  tendencies  and  liberated  from  the  prison  of 
their  fears.  Such  powers  as  He  exercised  no  other 
one  has  to-day,  or  ever  had  ;  but  the  miracles  do  not 
violate  our  sense  of  reasonableness.  Even  in  the  cases 
which  by  some  are  held  to  show  that  Jesus  was  the 
child  of  His  age  {e.g-.  in  the  ascription  of  certain  forms 
of  disease  to  demon-possession)  we  simply  have  the 
assurance  of  His  Incarnate  Manhood,  apart  from  the 
impossibility  of  conceiving  how  any  effect  other  than 
bewilderment  could  have  been  produced  upon  those 
who  sought  His  healing  by  the  adoption  of  language 
and  conceptions  other  than  those  they  knew.  And 
while  in  the  case  of  miracles  like  the  turning  of  water 
into  wine,-^  or  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand,^  what 
Science  hesitates  to  accept  is  the  apparent  break  in  the 
continuity  of  causation,  it  may  be  remembered  that  in 
many  phenomena  which  are  familiar  to  us — e.g.  the 
passage  of  ice  into  water,  of  water  into  steam,  the 
cinematographic  display — there  are  apparent  breaks  in 
the  causal  series  as  observed  or  imagined  by  us,  yet 
our  minds,  grasping  the  whole  movement,  conceive  of 
the  series  as  continuous. 

In  fuller  illustration  of  the  combined  attitude  of 
Science  to  evidence  and  interpretation,  two  miracles 
may  be  briefly  considered,  drawn  one  each  from  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  In  Exodus  xvi.  14,  15, 
31  and  Numbers  ii.  7,  8  accounts  are  given  of  the 
miraculous  feeding  of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness 
of  Sin.  In  particular,  these  verses  describe  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  divine  promise,  "  Behold,  I  will  rain 
bread  from  heaven  for  you  ...  in  the  morning 
ye  shall  be  filled  with  bread."  ^  In  the  verses  quoted 
we  read,  "  And  when  the  dew  that  lay  was  gone  up, 

"'John  ii.  l-ii.  2  joi^n  vi.  5-14.  ^  Ex.  xvi.  4,  ii. 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

behold,  upon  the  face  of  the  wilderness  a  small  round 
thing,  small  as  the  hoar  frost  on  the  ground.  .  .  . 
And  the  house  of  Israel  called  the  name  thereof 
Manna :  and  it  was  like  coriander  seed,  white :  and 
the  taste  of  it  was  like  wafers  made  with  honey." 
Without  going  into  serious  critical  questions  bearing 
either  on  the  length  of  the  wilderness  wanderings 
or  the  number  of  individuals  that  the  nation  then 
comprised — both  of  which  points  are  of  particular 
importance  in  connection  with  this  miracle — the  first 
impulse  of  the  scientific  mind  would  be  to  collect 
data  that  are  in  any  sense  analogous  to  the  facts 
recorded  in  Scripture,  and  institute  a  comparison. 
Thus,  to  cite  two  or  three  data  of  this  character: 
(a)  it  is  known  that  the  tarfa  tree  {Tamarix  mannifera^ 
Ehr.)  when  its  twigs  are  punctured  by  a  scale  insect 
{Gossyparia  mannipard)  exudes  a  viscous  substance 
which  is  collected  in  the  desert  by  the  Arabs  and 
sold  to  pilgrims.  Other  trees  have  a  similar  property, 
and  although  the  supply  of  such  trees  in  that 
particular  region  is  now  insufficient  for  the  supposed 
purpose,  it  is  possible  that  formerly  they  may  have 
existed  in  far  greater  numbers,  {b)  A  lichen  {Lecanora 
esculenta)  occurs  on  the  desert  limestones  showing 
similarity  in  several  respects  to  the  manna  of  Scripture. 
It  is  wind-borne  and  sometimes  swept  along  in 
torrential  rains,  and  is  used  as  food  in  the  steppe 
regions  of  S.W.  Asia  in  years  of  famine,  {c)  Preter- 
natural rains  of  esculent  lichen  torn  away  by  the 
winds  and  borne  to  a  distance  have  occurred  from 
time  to  time  in  Persia,  "as  at  Oroomiah  during  a 
famine  in  1829,  and  again  at  Herat  while  that  place 
was  being  besieged."^  The  scientific  mind  will  then 
weigh  the   Scriptural  statements  in   the  light  of  facts 

^  Outlines  of  Geology,  by  James  Geikie,  p.  10. 

357 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

such  as  these.  Prof.  A.  Macalister  ^  in  considering 
the  first  suggestion  believes  that  these  exudations  are 
physiologically  insufficient  as  food,  and  states  that 
they  keep  indefinitely  and  cannot  be  cooked  as  was 
the  manna,  which  therefore  "  was  a  miraculous 
substance."  But  it  is  conceivable  that  to  others, 
considerations  like  those  that  can  be  advanced  in 
connection  with  suggestions  (b)  and  (c)  may  appeal,  in 
which  case  the  miracle  would  lie  in  the  fact  that  under 
these  particular  conditions  the  Israelites  were  provided 
with  food  in  accordance  with  the  divine  promise  and  would 
be  more  akin  to  the  old  idea  of  a  "  special  providence." 
If  in  connection  with  the  New  Testament  we  turn 
to  the  Resurrection,  it  is  only  because  than  this  no 
miracle  is  more  central,  more  vital  to  Christianity. 
It  might  have  been  more  fruitful  to  take  a  case  like 
the  stilling  of  the  lake-storm,  and  see  how  far  the 
analogy  between  the  will  of  man  acting  upon  the 
energy  of  Nature  and  producing  results,  and  Christ's 
will  acting  as  an  extraordinary  power  upon  Nature, 
would  carry  us.  The  electrical  discharge  of  a  sub- 
marine mine  is  ultimately  the  affecting  of  accumulated 
energy  directly  through  the  will :  the  material  elements 
are  strictly  negligible.  Once  we  realise  the  fact  of 
spiritual  agency  in  the  world,  it  will  not  be  easy  to 
set  limitations  to  it,  and  in  the  action  of  the  human 
will  upon  energy  we  have  as  yet  a  fact  and  an  un- 
solved problem.  But  though  in  the  matter  of  the 
Resurrection  Science  cannot  help  us  with  analogy, 
still,  in  her  critical  examination,  we  believe  she  can 
do  real  service.  The  scientific  study  of  hallucinations, 
for  example,  shows  how  totally  absurd  the  hallucination 
theory    of   the    Resurrection    is.^      Hallucinations    are 

^  Art.  "Manna,"  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  vol.  iii.  p.  236. 
"  W.  N.  Rice,  Christian  Faith  in  an  A^e  of  Science,  p.  369. 

358 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

usually  preceded  by  conditions  of  excited  ex- 
pectancy, but  the  faith  of  the  disciples  suffered 
a  total  eclipse  at  the  Cross, — they  had  no  expectancy 
of  the  Resurrection.  Distinctive  hallucinations  do  not 
usually  affect  more  than  a  single  individual,  and  they 
are  commonly  confined  to  a  single  sense :  but  in  the 
case  of  the  witnesses  to  the  Resurrection  it  was  quite 
otherwise.  Again,  in  the  whole  vexed  question  of  the 
material  resurrection  of  the  body  as  distinct  from 
spiritual  immortality,  Science  will  not  improbably  be 
heard.^  But,  finally,  Science  will  have  to  consider  in 
this  crucial  case  not  merely  the  possibility  but  the 
probability  of  such  a  miracle :  here  due  weight  will 
have  to  be  given  to  the  unique  character  of  Christ 
and  the  whole  purpose  of  His  life.  For  as  we  read 
again  and  again  the  story  of  His  life  and  the  evidence, 
such  as  it  is,  of  the  New  Testament  miracles,  we 
realise  that  it  is  not  because  of  His  miracles  that 
we  believe  in  Him,  but  that,  because  of  what  He  was 
and  is,  we  are  compelled  to  ascribe  to  Him  what,  on 
our  plane  of  humanity,  seems  to  us  miraculous.  In 
fact,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  form  any  satisfactory, 
ix.  any  rational  conception  of  His  life  without  the 
miraculous :  there  is  a  certain  congruity  and  intense 
naturalness  in  the  association  of  miracle  with  Jesus 
Christ.  He  did  not  perform  miracles  so  much  to  prove 
that  He  was  Christ,  as  because  He  was  Christ.  Could 
a  miracle  in  itself  evoke  those  qualities — that  attitude 
to  Himself — that  Christ  desires  in  the  believer's  heart  ? 
And   in   any  case  the   facts  remain  that  the  people  of 

^  Sir  W.  F.  Barrett  has  somewhere  hazarded  the  statement  that  enough 
is  known  mathematically  of  the  conditions  of  four-dimensional  space  to 
enable  us  to  realise  that  the  past  resurrection  appearances  of  Jesus  Christ, 
e.g.  the  sudden  appearance  in  the  upper  room,  could  quite  well  be  explained 
on  the  supposition  that  during  the  forty  days  He  moved  in  space  of  four 
dimensions. 

359 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  xNATURE 

His  generation  were  aware  of  something  about  Him 
— that  which  we  express  under  the  term  "  divine  " — 
which  they  could  only  explain  by  the  category  of 
miracle  ;  that  His  exercise  of  these  powers — His  whole 
use  of  Himself,  so  to  speak — was  contrary  to  their 
expectations  of  what  He  should  do  with  Himself  being 
what  they  recognised  Him  to  be,  and  that,  immediately 
after  His  public  execution,  the  realisation  of  His 
divinity  became  the  central  certainty  in  the  lives  of 
numbers  of  men  and  women.  This  realisation  received 
its  greatest  impetus  in  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection, 
belief  in  which,  however  susceptible  to  criticism  the 
different  accounts  may  be,  must  ever  be  easier  than 
unbelief,  for  in  this  world  as  we  know  it,  it  is  incon- 
ceivable that  the  greatest  instrumentality  for  morality 
that  history  has  ever  known — the  Church  of  Christ — 
should  have  been  founded  on  a  lie. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  the  attitude  of  Science  to 
miracles  must  be  of  this  nature.  In  the  first  place,  to 
deny  their  possibility  is  to  be  untrue  to  herself.  All 
a  prio7'i  arguments  against  miracle  are  purely  mental 
presumptions.  Miracles  are  contradicted  by  no  facts : 
the  facts  on  which  a  law  is  based  do  not  avail  beyond 
these  particular  facts,  nor  does  the  law  either,  except 
by  an  act  of  faith.  In  the  second  place,  with  regard  to 
recorded  miracles,  her  attitude  must  be  to  consider 
them  critically  in  their  setting  and  general  congruity ; 
and  thirdly,  to  admit  the  possibility  of  phenomena  as 
due  to  law  that  is  not  yet  fully  understood.  How 
short  is  the  passage  from  this  position  to  the  theist's 
conception  of  miracle  as  due  to  the  direct  action  of 
God  supplementary  to  the  course  of  Nature  as  known 
to  us  may  be  briefly  considered  in  conclusion.  For  to 
one  who  thinks  of  Nature  as  the  orderly  expression  of 
the  working  of  a   divine   indwelling   Spirit  which  yet 

360 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

is  not  exhausted  by  the  operation  of  natural  forces, 
and  is  in  that  sense  transcendent,  to  one  for  whom  the 
cosmic  order  is  no  rival  of  God,  but  rather  the  con- 
tinuous manifestation  of  His  sustaining  and  controlling 
activity,  to  whom  therefore  all  events  are  natural  in 
the  mode  of  their  occurrence  but  supernatural  in  their 
causation,  it  does  not  seem  incredible  that  God  should 
manifest  Himself  in  ways  of  which  we  have  no  previous 
or  modern  experience.  Whether  the  miracle  be  due  to 
unknown  combinations  of  known  natural  forces,  or  to 
natural  forces  hitherto  undetected,  is  of  no  great 
matter:  what  is  urged  is  that  to  maintain  that  a 
miracle  has  not  occurred  because  we  do  not  under- 
stand the  character  of  its  causation  is  to  make  the 
inadmissible  assumption  that  all  that  we  know  is  all 
that  is  possible — is,  in  short,  to  claim  omniscience.  Nor 
is  it  incredible  that  though  God  is  ordinarily  known  to 
us  in  the  order  of  Nature  which  He  has  established  as  a 
worthy  and  permanent  expression  of  His  creative  and 
sustaining  will,  yet  should  He  also  manifest  Himself 
for  special  purposes  in  some  unusual  impulse.  To 
deny  this  is  to  refuse  to  God  the  liberty  He  has  given 
to  man.  Particularly  is  this  borne  in  on  us  as  men 
come  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  relations 
between  what  have  too  long  been  allowed  to  stand  in 
unreal  contrast  as  the  natural  and  the  supernatural. 
More  correctly  realised  as  the  physical  and  spiritual — 
and  to  this  better  understanding  nothing  has  helped  so 
much  as  evolution — their  mutual  need  and  dependence 
have  most  impressively  been  realised.  To  the  earlier 
mind  there  was  continual  conflict  between  the  two : 
under  the  conception  of  spiritual  law  in  the  natural 
world  the  modern  thinker  finds  no  great  difficulty  in 
his  theistic  interpretation  of  the  world-process — God  is 
a  Spirit — nor  hesitates  in  his  thought  of  miracle  as  an 

361 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

express  act  of  this  indwelling  yet  transcendent  Spirit, 
taking  its  place  in  the  world  order — "  an  outflash  of 
psychic  activity  from  the  realm  of  eternal  Reason  not 
inharmonious  with  that  activity  which  appears  in  the 
regimented  phenomena  of  the  world."  ^  After  all,  the 
characteristic  feature  of  a  miracle  is  not  its  rarity  or 
uniqueness ;  it  is  its  clearer  indication  of  the  reality  of 
a  spiritual  world,  of  the  actuality  of  God's  presence  in 
human  life.  This  aspect,  while  no  doubt  always  with 
its  phenomenal  side,^  will  never  vindicate  itself  so  much 
in  the  character  of  a  natural  experience  in  time  and  space 
as  in  that  of  an  experience  of  the  living  God  Himself 
The  only  possible  explanation  of  miracle  is  that  in  that 
experience  a  man  becomes  directly  aware  of  the  actuality 
and  activity  of  that  Energy  which  ordinarily  expresses 
itself,  and  is  subjectively  experienced,  in  spatial  and 
temporal  form.  On  that  transcendental  side  its  value 
will  not  lie  in  the  circumstance  that  it  can  or  can- 
not be  fitted  into  that  "  hang  "  of  things  which  con- 
stitutes Science.  If  the  aversion  to  miracles  is  simply 
an  expression  of  belief  in  a  purely  mechanical  self-con- 
tained world,  then  the  human  spirit  must  hail  them  in 
defence  of  its  own  liberty.  For  if  God  be  so  bound 
by  His  laws  that  initiative  is  no  longer  His,  much 
more  are  we.  And  if  He  cannot  intervene  in  the 
physical  realm,  still  less  can  He  do  so  in  the  spiritual, 
for  the  two  stand  in  close  relationship.  The  miracle 
is  the  sign  of  the  Divine  freedom.  Yet  we  may  be 
sure  that  it  is  no  detached  or  lawless  event :  whatever 
a  miracle  is,  it  is  not  an  intrinsically  unintelligible 
thing,  a  vagary,  an  ultimatum  to  Science.  With  God 
all  rational  things  are  possible,  but   none  is  miraculous 

1  C.  M.  Tyler,  Bases  of  Religious  Belief,  p.  238. 

2Cf.,   as  illustrating  this  difference    in   attitude    to    phenomena,   the 
incidents  in  Luke  xvii.  11-19,  John  xii.  28,  29. 

362 


SCIENCE  AND  MIRACLE 

to  Him.     The  world  must  look  very  differently  from 
God's  point  of  view  and    from    man's,  and    when    ours  > 

shall  have  been  changed  in  greater  nearness  to  His  we 
shall  not  merely  understand  the  ways  of  His  workings.  ; 

From  what  we  know  of  the  Divine  character  we  may  be 
sure  that  we  shall   realise   more  fully  than  we  do  now  j 

not  merely  that  "  all's  law,"  but  that  "  all's  love."  j 


363 


CHAPTER    XVII 

EVOLUTION  AND  IMMORTALITY 

There  is  probably  a  moment  in  the  life  of  every 
individual  when  Job's  persistent  question  in  some  form 
demands  an  answer,  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ? 
As  one  looked  on  the  field  of  the  Khodinka  disaster 
at  the  time  of  the  Czar's  Coronation — "  worse  than 
anything  I  saw  at  Plevna,"  as  the  Times  correspondent 
remarked  —  and  saw  the  old  human  hulks  being 
jogged  off  on  the  top  of  fire-brigade  waggons  and 
other  unusual  impressed  vehicles,  the  question  in- 
evitably rose  in  one's  mind,  "  Is  that  the  end  of  the 
story  for  them  ? "  Sometimes  the  individual  may 
feel  very  certain  about  the  answer ;  at  other  times  he 
has  greater  difficulty,  and  looks  around  for  every  aid 
in  the  hours  when  the  immortal  hope  burns  low. 
Science  has  helped  much  in  other  matters,  and  some 
have  looked  for  assistance  there,  but  to  the  problem 
she  makes  no  direct  contribution  ;  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  she  could.  At  the  same  time,  she  throws  certain 
sidelights  on  the  question  that  do  help  just  a  little  in 
its  illumination. 

She  may  illuminate  the  dark  sayings  of  the  objector. 
It  is  perhaps  permissible  to  maintain  that  most  of  the 
objections  to  the  possibility  of  immortality  have  no 
more  profound  origin  than  sheer  lack  of  imagination. 
To  the  crude  secretion  view  of  Cabanis  on  the  relation 

364 


EVOLUTION   AND  IMMORTALITY 

of  the  brain  to    thought  William    James  ^   replies    in 
effect,    "There    are   other   possible   relations  than  that 
of  production,"  and  then,  in  particular,  starting  from  the 
idealistic  position  that  the  whole  universe  of  material 
things  is  but  a  surface   veil   of  phenomena,  he  shows 
how  the  facts,  so  far   as    they   are  known,  would   be 
equally  well,  if  not  better,  expressed  by  the  conception 
of  our  brains  as  prisms,  through  which  stream   rays  of 
the     divine  light— rays,  however,    that    are    strangely 
distorted   and  dimmed  by  reason   of  the  too  constant 
opaqueness  and  coarseness    of  the  conducting   instru- 
ments, our  idiosyncratic  selves — or  as  thin  and  semi- 
transparent  places  in  tlie  veil  through  which  are  diffused 
into  this  world  suggestions  of  the  true  life  of  souls  in 
all  its  fullness.     Which  is  particularly  interesting  when 
we  recollect  those  cases,  by  no  means  confined  to  sacred 
records,  where,  just  previous  to  death,  the  veil  has  become 
preternaturally  thin,  the  prism  unwontedly  translucent, 
and  the  "  heavenlies  "  have  broken  in  on  the  individual's 
consciousness  ere  he  has  joined  himself  to  them. 

Again,  the  idea  of  a  spiritual  body  almost  seems  a 
contradiction  in  terms,  yet  modern  conceptions  of 
matter  make  views  of  an  ethereal  body  or  soul 
eminently  intelligible.  "Thou  sowest  not  the  body 
that  shall  be  "  ;'  and  the  whole  conception  of  a  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  is  but  a  Pharisaic  skin  in  which  the 
new  wine  of  the  revelation  of  an  endless  life  was  first 
conveyed  to  men.  Physical  science  can  offer  to  the 
imagination  lines  of  thought  along  which  the  soul  or 
its  ethereal  counterpart  are  at  least  intellectually 
separable  from  the  grosser  material  in  which  it  is 
obliged  to  accommodate  itself  here,  in  order  to  hold 
intercourse  with  other  souls  and  come  into  relation 
with  the  material   world.      That  we    have   no  experi- 

1  Human  Immortality,  p.  30  et  seq.  ^  i  Cor.  xv.  37. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

mental  evidence  of  such  an  ethereal  soul  is  nothing  to 
the  point  so  far  as  the  suggestion  is  made  to  combat 
the  view  that  the  physical  dissociation  of  the  elements 
of  the  body  is  the  final  stage  of  a  human  life-history ; 
and  on  the  contrary,  there  are  quite  sound  reasons 
why  such  evidence  could   not  be  available. 

In  short,  it  is  simple  dogmatism  that  would  deny 
immortality :  on  scientific  grounds,  at  any  rate,  we  have 
not  the  knowledge  to  take  up  such  an  attitude. 
Indeed,  when  we  consider  how  the  potentiality  of  an 
adult  human  organism,  brain  and  all,  lies  at  its  primal 
moment  in  a  speck  of  matter  of  microscopic  size 
(o'2  mm.),  the  difficulty  of  conceiving  some  continued 
relationship  between  that  fully  developed  conscious- 
ness and  a  minimum  of  matter,  supposing  that  to  be 
necessary,  is  not  so  very  great.  Across  this  infini- 
tesimal vital  viaduct  passes  the  condensed  experience 
of  millions  of  individuals,  showing  us  that  the  spirit 
may  safely  be  given  into  the  keeping  of  other  forms 
of  matter  than  the  brain  affords.  Hence  it  is  not 
improbable  that  matter  in  certain  forms  far  simpler 
than  the  nervous  system  may  bear  the  germs  of  high 
intelligence.  What  we  do  know  of  the  slightness  of 
the  connection  of  the  personal  life  with  matter  at  its 
birth  almost  justifies  us  scientifically  in  affirming  that 
the  dissolution  of  a  body  is  not  necessarily  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  relations  of  the  individual  to  the  outward 
universe.  The  viaduct  for  the  fair-way  of  the  soul 
both  at  birth  and  at  death  may  be  laid  from  the 
foundations  of  the  world  although  it  may  not  in  either 
case  be  visible  to  our  senses.  At  any  rate,  our  ig- 
norance of  matter  and  its  relation  to  spiritual  activity 
is  so  profound  that  the  fact  of  a  capacity  for  death 
cannot  be  made  the  basis  for  an  induction  as  to  the 
non-survival  of  intelligence. 

366 


EVOLUTION  AND  IMMORTALITY 

On  the  positive  side  we  are  unaided  by  science 
towards  an  absolute  demonstration.  At  the  same 
time,  there  are  many  suggestive  things — "  Intimations  " 
Wordsworth  was  bold  enough  to  call  them — that  help 
us  in  our  trust.  They  are  of  very  different  value,  but 
their  cumulative  effect  is  not  inconsiderable.  One  of 
these  is  the  existence  of  what  have  been  called  critical 
points  or  crises  in  the  economy  of  Nature.^  A  not 
unnatural  deduction  from  the  doctrine  of  the  conserva- 
tion of  energy,  due  to  preoccupation  with  its  modes  of 
transformation  and  the  routine  of  antecedent  and 
consequent,  leads  men  to  imagine  that  there  is  a 
definite  uniformity  of  quality  of  action  in  Nature. 
But  is  it  so  ?  Consider  the  story  of  a  crystal  of  ice. 
It  is  definitely  recognisable  as  such  with  its  character- 
istic qualities,  and  these  it  would  retain  under  certain 
conditions  indefinitely.  But  subject  it  to  heat,  make 
some  slight  change  in  its  environment,  and  at  a  certain 
point  it  no  longer  conforms  to  the  old  environment 
but  has  been  transformed  into  something  else — water. 
With  regard  to  this  transformation  two  things  in 
particular  are  noticeable.  In  the  first  place,  the  change 
with  its  results  and  the  vastly  different  qualities  of 
the  new  substance  could  not  have  been  predicted  from 
any  study  of  the  ice  crystal  as  such  ;  in  the  second 
place,  the  difference  in  the  environment,  the  change  in 
the  temperature  required  to  bring  about  this  trans- 
formation, is  immeasurably  small.  We  say  32°  Fahr. 
is  the  point,  but  it  is,  so  to  speak,  something  much 
smaller,  done  in  something  less  than  the  span  of  a 
degree  of  temperature.  Follow  the  process  further. 
Increase  the  heat,  and  again  at  a  certain  point  a 
wonderful  transformation  takes  place.  The  drop  of 
water  is  no  longer  there ;  it  has  disappeared,  but  it  is 

^  N.  S.  Shaler,  llie  Individual^  p.  292. 

1^7 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

not  lost.  And  all  our  study  of  the  water-drop  as 
such  would  never  have  led  us  to  imagine  that  with 
this  immeasurably  small  change  of  temperature  it 
would  have  been  so  transformed.  Such  transformations 
in  Nature  are  by  no  means  the  exception.  The 
suggestion  is,  that  death,  perhaps,  is  just  such  a  critical 
point,  when  there  is  a  change  to  something  in  an 
entirely  new  realm,  of  which  we  can  form  no  conception 
from  our  study  of  the  living  body.  The  difference  in 
temperature  of  water  as  ice  or  fluid  and  as  fluid  or 
vapour  is  extremely  small,  and  yet  how  great  is  the 
effect  of  this  difference !  Each  is  a  point  at  which 
origination  of  quality  is  in  some  way  introduced. 

A  further  consideration  springing  out  of  the  relation- 
ship of  man  to  his  environment  has  been  urged  with 
great  force  by  Fiske.^  If  man  is  indeed  but  a  physical 
being,  why  is  he,  unlike  all  other  creatures,  not  satisfied 
with  proper  physical  conditions  ?  What  has  he  to  do 
with  a  spiritual  environment  at  all  ?  If  all  values  to 
him  perish  with  the  body,  what  is  the  meaning  of  his 
instincts  and  affinities  for  the  spiritual,  the  infinite,  the 
perfect,  the  permanent?  He  does  not  find  his  satis- 
faction, his  true  life,  in  ends  that  centre  in  his  body  as 
a  rule — there  are  exceptions,  but  we  do  not  call  them 
men.  Is  not  history  replete  with  tales  of  those  who, 
for  the  sake  of  realising  their  nobler  life,  have  sacrificed 
their  bodies  in  devotion  to  truth  and  justice  ?  Perhaps, 
it  is  objected,  the  instinct  was  misguided  and  corre- 
sponds to  fancy  only — to  nothing,  i.e.,  external  to 
him.  But  is  it  not  strange  that  God  should  have  so 
constituted  man  that  he  feels  himself  to  be  truly  living 
only  so  far  as  he  seeks  the  spiritual,  the  perfect,  the 
permanent,  if  there  is  naught  in  his  environment  and 
destiny  corresponding    to  such  a  nature  ?      It    is  not 

^  John  Fiske,  Through  Nature  to  God,  chap.  x. 
368 


EVOLUTION  AND  IMMORTALITY 

merely  strange  but  anomalous  in  the  world  as  we 
know  it.  For  every  advance  and  every  feature  of  man's 
life  has  been  evolved  in  response  to  something  external 
to  him.  The  eye  has  been  developed  in  response  to 
ethereal  undulations,  the  ear  in  reply  to  the  impact  of 
the  waves  of  sound  ;  maternal  love  has  been  elicited 
by  a  little  child,  and  every  virtue  we  possess  has  been 
developed  under  the  stimulus  of  something  noble  but 
originally  external  to  us.  And  does  this  spiritual  sense 
— this  within  us  that  is  felt  to  be  greater  than  all  that 
is  around  us — alone  correspond  to  nothing  real  and 
external  to  us  ?  That  the  human  spirit  should  be  united 
with  a  physical  body  for  a  time  for  character  formation 
and  all .  higher  education — even  for  mere  purposes  of 
communication  in  a  physical  sphere — is  not  perhaps 
unintelligible.  But  that  this  spiritual  nature,  whose 
scope  and  outlook  is  the  Infinite,  should  vanish  with 
the  body  is  contrary  to  the  whole  cosmic  economy, 
which  uniformly  subordinates  the  lower  to  the  higher ; 
that  it,  the  subjective  and  the  temporary,  should  alone 
be  the  real  and  correspond  to  nothing  externally, 
would  be  the  sole  irrationality  in  the  universe  as  we 
know  it.  Rather  are  we  compelled  to  think  of  our- 
selves as  finely  minted  coin  ;  and  to  every  c*har- 
acteristic  mark  and  feature  do  we  feel  certain  that 
something  corresponds  in  the  die  in  whose  image  we 
are  created.  In  many  the  image  is  defaced  somewhat 
in  the  hard  usage  of  life,  but  we  can  well  imagine  the 
divine  Artificer  making  the  sole  test  depend  on 
whether  in  the  end  the  individual  coin  rings  true,  in 
which  case  it  is  gold  and  will  not  perish,  standing 
the  fire. 

Possibly  the  most  effective  considerations  are  those 
derived  from   the  rationality  of  the  universe  taken   in 
conjunction  with  the  teachings  of  evolution.      Evolution 
2  A  369 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

has  entirely  changed  our  conception  of  man.  Time 
was  when  he  was  considered  as  absolutely  distinct 
from,  and  having  no  relation  in  origin  with,  the  brute 
creation  around  him.  He  was  placed  on  a  pinnacle  by 
himself,  and  all  accounts  of  the  universe  began  with 
him,  and  explained  everything  from  him  ;  they  were 
worked  out  from  above  downwards.  The  modern  story 
leads  up  to  man  through  the  rest  of  the  creation  :  it 
displays  his  kinship  with  the  lower  creatures,  but  also 
emphasises  that  wherein  he  is  alien  to  them.  It  shows 
that  not  6000  years  but  mayhap  600,000  years  ago 
man  arrived,  and  tells  of  ages  of  previous  life  that  were 
not  altogether  unconnected  with  him.  In  man  Science 
sees  the  goal  of  creation  :  she  assures  us  that  there  will 
never  be  a  creature  higher  than  man ;  she  recognises  in 
him  the  consummation  of  the  whole.  And  these  two 
views  differ  in  dignity,  truth,  and  service  as  do  the 
Ptolemaic  and  Copernican  theories  of  the  motions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies.  But  from  the  side  of  pure 
materialism  we  are  invited  to  believe  that  this  age-long 
process  has  been  set  in  motion  to  produce  man,  and 
that  at  death  its  fairest  blossom  is  merely  thrown  out 
into  the  night.  We  are  shown  a  long  line  of  ancestry 
whose  beginning  is  lost  in  the  seemingly  interminable 
past — groups  of  creatures  crossing  the  stage  of  exist- 
ence, playing  their  little  r61e,  and  for  the  most  part 
disappearing  or  giving  rise  to  other  forms.  We  are 
shown  a  series  unbroken  yet  sharply  marked  by  values 
of  increasing  worth,  till  at  the  end  comes  man — most 
truly  man  when  dominated  by  love  and  conscience. 
He  has  closed  the  series  because  he  has  revealed  its 
final  cause  in  himself,  so  that  we  are  fain  to  say  that 
in  order  to  produce  man  it  was  necessary  to  evolve  the 
tenuous  but  persistent  line  of  life  from  Cambrian  days 
until  this  present.      In  face  of  the  thousands  of  pro- 

370 


EVOLUTION  AND  IMMORTALITY 

gressive  distinct  modifications  that  led  up  to  the  estate 
of  man,  what  were  the  chances  of  such  a  process 
working  out  correctly  if  it  were  not  guided,  if  there  had 
not  been  this  end  in  view  ?  They  are  infinity  to  one. 
So  that,  as  we  look  down  the  long  vista,  we  refuse  to 
believe  that  in  man's  case  death  ends  all.  To  do  so  is 
to  rob  not  only  existence  but  the  process  of  its  meaning. 
Man  is  the  outcome  of  the  travail  of  a  universe,  and  it 
were  strange  if  there  is  no  value  associated  with  him 
exceeding  the  cost  of  his  extraction.  Is  it  conceivable, 
then,  that  this  age-long  process  is  to  break  down  at  the 
last  stage  ?  Unless  life  is  some  gigantic  anticlimax,  it 
cannot  well  be  so.  What  is  unreasonable  in  supposing 
that  just  as  man's  body  has  nearly  reached  the  goal  of 
terrestrial  development,  so  his  soul,  his  spirit,  may  just 
be  commencing  a  corresponding  career  that  shall  be 
continued  hereafter  ?  Rather,  therefore,  do  we  hold  that 
the  final  goal,  the  only  reasonable  conclusion  ot  that 
world  process  whose  aim  is  the  continued  perfection  of 
adaptation  to  environment,  is  the  begetting  of  souls 
faultlessly  adapted  to  the  spiritual  world,  the  moulding 
of  beings  whose  life  has  acquired  that  selective  value 
upon  which  the  forces  of  the  world  to  come  can  fasten, 
and  will  therefore  possess  survival  value  beyond  the 
environmental  change  of  death.  That  is  to  say,  there 
may  well  be  human  discontinuous  variations  in  the 
direction  of  "  an  endless  life,"  and  death  be  for  them  no 
more  than  a  "  break." 

Further,  with  the  possibility,  nay  the  probability 
of  continuity  admitted,  speculation  has  sometimes 
busied  itself  with  philosophical  inquiry  into  the  nature 
of  the  change,  with  the  question  whether  it  is  under- 
gone by  all  men,  whether  there  may  not  be  some 
winnowing  process  going  on  even  now,  whereby,  although 
in  every  man  there  is  the  possibility  of  survival,  yet 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

may  it  not  become  a  reality.  Again  the  question 
rises,  what  is  it  that  persists?  In  an  evolutionary 
process  that  has  tended  towards  higher  and  higher 
individuation  we  have  to  try  and  find  out  wherein  this 
individuality  consists.  We  have  realised  the  dividuality 
of  humbler  forms  ^  and  are  aware  of  a  certain  perman- 
ence beneath  the  outward  changes  that  constitute  the 
life-history  of  higher  forms,  until  in  the  case  of  man  the 
significance  of  individuality  becomes  so  great,  and  its 
effects  so  strangely  persistent,  that  it  looks  as  if  we 
had  not  yet  learned  to  appreciate  it  in  its  fulness,  and 
perhaps  have  not  all  of  us  attained  it  in  its  supreme 
form.  This  failure  to  appreciate  individuality  is 
illustrated  by  Professor  Royce  in  a  passage  of  singular 
beauty ,2  in  which  he  takes  as  example  that  individuality 
which  every  man  is  perfectly  certain  he  can  describe — 
namely,  that  of  the  woman  whom  he  loves.  And  yet, 
he  maintains,  when  you  examine  and  analyse  the 
descriptions  of  a  dozen  lovers,  you  find  that  they  are 
all  saying  pretty  much  the  same  thing,  although 
necessarily  and  fortunately  about  different  individuals  ; 
are  in  fact,  each  of  them  with  the  beatific  vision  before 
his  eyes,  yet  only  describing  a  type — the  perfect 
woman — and  utterly  failing  to  convey  anything  to  you 
by  which  you  can  lay  hold  of  the  individuality  of  that 
particular  one  whom  he  loves.  "  So  careful  of  the 
type  he  seems — so  careless  of  the  single  life,"  which  is 
"  an  insult  to  loyal  love,"  but  at  the  same  time  an 
expression  of  a  lack  of  achievement,  so  suggesting  that 
perhaps  we  attain  to  immortality  what  time  this 
human  bundle  of  sensations,  feelings,  and  aspirations 
shall  have  put  on  Individuality,  what  time  it  shall 
have  attained  to  that  degree  of  self-conscious  moral 
personality  which  has  come  into  new  and  eternal 
1  p.  95.  2  77^^  Conception  of  Immortality,  p.  64. 


EVOLUTION  AND  IMMORTALITY 

relationships  both  with  the  universe  it  inhabits  and 
with  the  Supreme  Personality  in  that  universe,  and 
as  a  consequence  cannot  possibly  be  holden  of 
death. 

Considerations  of  this  nature,  together  with  the 
whole  method  of  Evolution,  seem  to  point  in  the 
direction  of  the  theological  doctrine  of  Conditional 
Immortality.  Now  it  was  Plato,  not  Jesus  Christ,  who 
taught  that  the  soul  is  inherently  immortal ;  and  the 
further  fact  remains  that  if  we  exclude  the  Platonic 
myth  there  is  no  conception  of  immortality  in  or  out 
of  Scripture  that  is  not  in  some  vital  sense  conditional. 
Accordingly,  if  it  appear  that  immortality  is  a  moral 
achievement,  conditioned  in  part  by  our  own  efforts, 
in  part  by  our  alliance  with  God,  there  is  nothing  in 
Scripture  to  challenge  the  contention.  "  Good  Teacher, 
what  shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  life  ?  "  asked 
one  of  Jesus,^  and  the  Teacher  did  not  at  any  rate  cor- 
rect his  view  of  immortality  as  an  attainment.  On  the 
contrary.  His  teaching  on  this  hope  is  comprehended 
in  the  categories  of  life  and  death.^  "  The  Gospels  are 
biological  altogether."  ^  Jesus  Christ  placed  before 
men  the  conditions  of  "  immortability  "  :  He  showed 
the  way  of  eternal  life,  with  its  adaptation  to  its  par- 
ticular environment,  which  is  God.  Nor  did  the  earliest 
Christian  writers  understand  His  teaching  on  this  matter 
in  any  other  sense.  Nowhere  in  their  writings  is  a  hint 
to  be  found  of  a  belief  in  the  natural  immortality  of 
the  soul ;  their  declarations  follow  the  typical  concep- 
tion of  their  Teacher.  They  speak  of  the  attainment 
of  the  conditions  as  something  to  be  "  striven  "  after.^ 

1  Mark  x.  17. 

2  John  iii.  16,  v.  24  ;  Matt.  vii.  13,  14,  etc. 

^  S.  D.  McConnell,  The  Evolution  of  hnmo7'laliiy ,  p.  1 10. 
*  Col.  i.  29. 

373 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 

''  Blessed,"  says  James, "  is  the  man  who  survives  the 
moral  test,  for  the  issue  is  life."  ^ 

What,  then,  is  the  nature  of  this  achievement  of 
immortality  ?  Essentially  the  condition  is  moral. 
The  precise  moment  is  often  not  easier  to  indicate 
in  the  individual  life  than  that  at  which  self-con- 
sciousness has  dawned.  We  have  seen  the  tremendous 
range  of  mental  achievement  within  the  human  race, 
and  the  range  of  moral  achievement  is  not  less.  In 
self-consciousness  is  revealed  the  ordinary  climax  of 
the  individualising  process ;  the  individual  becomes 
aware  of  the  possibility  of  its  individuality.  Even  on 
the  purely  physical  side  the  fact  that  the  prodigality 
of  life  is  increasingly  checked  as  it  progresses,  until  in 
man  it  affects  both  the  period  of  reproductive  power 
and  the  number  of  offspring  suggests  an  increasing 
value.  But  humanity  includes  many  units  that  are 
not  men,  in  the  highest  connotation  of  the  term. 
Until  a  man  appreciates  not  merely  the  abstract 
distinctions  between  good  and  evil,  but  also  the 
practical  personal  responsibility  in  right  and  wrong 
doing, — its  present  determining  influence, — he  cannot 
understand  the  implications  of  this  present  life,  the 
possibilities  of  a  higher  life,  the  conditions  of  the 
attainment  of  immortality.  To  the  man  who  has 
never  known  or  experienced  anything  in  his  life  for 
which  he  is  willing  to  die,  Immortality  must  ever  be 
a  chimera.  On  the  other  hand,  the  more  intense  and 
rich  the  life  of  the  spirit — the  more  adapted  it  is  in 
any  specific  case  to  the  true  environment  of  souls 
— the  more  does  the  thought  of  extinction  become 
impossible,  the  more  certain  is  the  conviction,  nay 
the  present  awareness,  of  immortality.     To  be  "  united 

^  Jas.    i.    12,    as   rendered   in    McConnell,    op.    cit.    p.    119,   to  which 
reference  should  be  made  for  a  detailed  treatment  of  this  point. 

374 


EVOLUTION  AND  IMMORTALITY 

with  Christ "  represents  a  spiritually  and  morally 
tempered  condition  of  prepotency  whose  survival  of 
death  is  natural.  It  represents  a  moral  achievement 
that  was  likewise  open  to  those  who  in  spirit  saw 
His  day  afar  off  and  were  glad,  if  there  is  any  truth 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  pre-existence  of  Christ. 

The  older  Scripture  writers  reached  their  belief  in 
immortality  as  the  result  of  experiences  that  we  can 
share  with  them.  Communion  with  God  was  to  them 
something  so  real,  so  great,  so  necessary,  so  satisfying 
— a  man's  moral  relation  to  God  so  absolutely  con- 
stituted the  bond  of  the  diverse  elements  in  his  nature, 
i.e.  his  individuality — that  the  mere  thought  of  the 
interruption  of  this  fellowship  by  death  elicited  a 
protest,  "  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  to  Sheol ; 
neither  wilt  Thou  suffer  Thine  Holy  One  to  see 
corruption."  ^  Fellowship  with  God  would  last  through 
death :  the  believer  demanded  that  he  should  overleap 
Sheol  and  pass  to  God — "  But  God  will  redeem  my 
soul  from  the  power  of  Sheol,  for  He  shall  receive  me."  ^ 
And  Christ  had  the  same  intense  conviction :  "  My 
Father,  which  hath  given  them  unto  Me,  is  greater  than 
all ;  and  no  one  is  able  to  snatch  them  out  of  the 
Father's  hand."^  Christ  was  inexpressibly  certain  of 
Immortality  just  because  His  earthly  life  was  inexpres- 
sibly perfect  and  beautiful,  and  in  complete  harmony 
with  God.  Therefore  it  is  that  we  can  understand 
that  it  was  not  possible  that  He  should  be  holden  of 
death — that  it  was,  in  short,  natural  that  He  should 
live.  Therefore  it  is  that  we  believe  Him  as  we  hear 
Him  say  majestically,  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the 
Life :  he  that  believeth  on  Me,  though  he  die,  yet 
shall  he  live :  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  on 
Me  shall  never  die."  * 

^  Ps.  xvi.  10.         2  Ps.  xlix.  15.         3  John  x.  29.         *  John  xi.  25,  26. 

375 


INDEX 


Abiogenesis,  130. 
Accretion,  growth  by,  87. 
Acquired    characters,     i7off.,    189, 

202. 
Adaptability  a  characteristic  of  Hfe, 

60,  160,  265,  268. 
Esthetic  impHcations  of  Nature,  25. 
Altmann's  units,  76. 
Altruism,  139  ;  a  factor  in  Evolution, 

162 ff.,  233. 
Amphioxtis,  116,  iij. 
Ancestral  inheritance,  Galton's  law 

of,  193. 
Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  and  Creation, 

283. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  i. 
Ascaris,  105,  108,  118. 
Assimilation,  87,  98, 
Astronomy  and  purpose,  257. 
Attraction-sphere,  70,  77. 
Augustine,    St.,  and  Creation,  282, 

283,  335- 
Authority,  place  of,  in  religion,  41. 
Autolysis,  61. 
Avebury,  Lord,  16. 

Bascom,  J.,  gn. 

Bateson,  W.,  177,  212,  213,  234. 

Belief,  50. 

Beneden,  van,  72,  77. 

Bergson,  H.,  27,  314. 

Bernard,    H.   M.,  67,   73,    74,  19, 

80,  loi  n. 
Bettex,  Professor,  18. 
Biological  unit,  72  ff. 

377 


Biology,    principles   of,    chaps,   ill. 

and  IV. 
Birth-rate,  decline  in,  220. 
Bishop  of  Ripon,  221. 
Blastomeres,  112. 
Blueness  of  the  sky,  its  cause,  ii. 
Boutroux,  E.,  21,  33. 
Boveri,  108,  109,  118. 
Bowne,  Borden,  270. 
Boyle's  Law,  353,  354. 
Breaks  in  the  succession,  129  ff. 
Brown,  R.,  and  cell  nucleus,  69. 
Bumpus,    H.    C,   observations  on 

sparrow,  173  ff. 
Burbank,  L.,  181. 
Butschli,  57,  58. 

Catalysis,  87,  89. 

Causation,   law  of,   29  ;  conception 

of,  259. 
Cell,  structure  of,  67  ff.  ;  theory  of, 

67;  unity  of,  69  ;  nucleus,  69  ; 

wall,  78,  89  ;  division  of,  95,  98. 
Centrosome,    structure  and  function 

of,  77  ff.,  107. 
Centrosphere,  77. 
Certainty,  sphere  of,  21. 
Chance,  260. 

Change    in    organism,    59  ;    char- 
acteristic of  Evolution,  123  ff. 
Chapman,  C,  130. 
Chatterton-Hill,  G.,  228,  229. 
Chemical  interpretation  of  life,  59  ; 

its  insufficiency,    57  ;  equation 

for  life,  2>T. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION   OF  NATURE 


Chloroplasts,  nature  and  function  of,  | 

II,  89. 
Chromatin,  nature  of,  70  ff. ,  200. 
Chromidial  unit,  74 ff.,  99>  lOO- 
Chromosomes,      nature      of,      72 ; 

splitting  of,  72,  99  ;  reduction 

of,   106  ;  individuality  of,   107  ; 

and  heredity,  109,  200. 
Cleavage   divisions    of   developing 

egg,  112. 
Coccidium  schubergi,  104. 
Coelenterata,  68,  loi,  155. 
Colloidal  nature  of  Protoplasm,  56  ; 

of  enzymes,  88. 
Colony  formation  in  life,  67,   100, 

loi,  103,  242,  243. 
Comparative  Religion,  39. 
Conditional  immortality,  373  ff' 
Conformity  to  environment,  161. 
Conjugation      of      Protozoa,       95, 

102. 
Conn,  H.  W.,  149,  153. 
Conscience,  natural  history  of,  39. 
Consciousness,    245  ;  evolution   of, 

315. 
Conservation  of  energy,  34. 
Correlation,  172,  173,  177. 
Coulter,  J.  M.,  42. 
Creation,   129;    and   volition,  259, 

chap.     XII.  :     by     Evolution, 

289  ff 
Creation  Narratives,  145,  277  ff. 
Creed  of  science,  46. 
Criminal  strains,  223  ff. 
Critical  points  in  Nature,  367. 
Criticism,  value  of  Biblical,  41. 
Crystal,  growth  of,  87. 
Cross-sterility,  145. 
Crucifixion,  167. 

Cytoplasm,  69,  72  ;  role  of,  115. 
Czapek,  F.,  61. 

Darwin,  C,  75,  126,  141,  144,  148, 
i5i>  175,  177,  178,  203,  239, 
282,  298,  321,  322,  324. 


15; 
[16, 

and 


t39, 


Darwinism,    not    synonymous  with 

Evolution,  125  ;  126,  152,  158, 

181. 
Davidson,  Professor  A.  B.,  279  «. 
Death,  capacity  for,  80,  92 ;  place 

of,  in  Evolution,  94. 
Decline  in  birth-rate,  220. 
Definition  of  science,  14. 
Degeneration,  138. 
Dendy,  A.,  151 7^.,  207,  208 «. 
Dennert,  E.,  126. 
Dentaluim^  117,  1 18. 
Determinants,  200. 
Determinate  variation,  175^- 
Determinism,  237. 
Development,    character   of, 
Weismann's    theory    of, 

201. 
Differences     between     plants 

animals,  90  ff. 
Differentiation  of  tissues,  112. 
Directive  factor  in  Evolution. 

141,  chap.  XL,  291. 
Discontent  an  element  in  progress, 

160. 
Discontinuous        variation,        I7i> 

177  ff 
Division   characteristic  of  the   cell, 

95,  98  ff.,  201. 
Doncaster,  L.,  195. 
Draper,  J.  W.,  37. 
Driesch,  H.,  61,  116,  118,  120. 
Drummond,  H.,  162,  163,  334. 
Dugdale,  R.  A.,  223  ff. 
Dynamic  centre  of  cell,  77. 

Education     and     susceptibility    to 

pain,  157. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  family  statistics, 

226. 
Electricity,   positive  and    negative, 

19- 

Embryology,  problems  of,  ii4ff.  ; 
and  the  recapitulation  theory, 
147,  148. 


378 


INDEX 


Ends,  recognition  of,  114;  realm  of, 
127. 

Energy,  conservation  of,  34 ; 
relation  of  life  to,  64  ff.,  88. 

Engram,  207. 

Environment,  relation  of  organism 
to,  96,  98,  119,  138,  139,  165, 
187,  197,  chap.  X.  ;  relation  to 
variation,  241,  259. 

Enzymes,  problem  of,  80,  87  ft'.; 
nature  of,  89,  90. 

Epigenesis,  119,  122. 

Eugenics,  26,  234,  246. 

Evil,  Evolution  and,  chap.  XV.  ; 
physical  evil,  331,  332. 

Evolution,  early  conceptions  of, 
115,  chap.  V.  passim;  proofs 
of,  145  ff.  ;  and  creation,  277 
flf.  :  and  mind, '298;  and  moral- 
ity, 321  ;  and  evil,  331  ;  and 
immortality,  370. 

Existence,  joy  of,  49. 

Experience,    unity   of,    3  ;    science 

and,  25. 
Experiment,  value  of,  43. 
Experimental  religion,  43. 

Factors  in  Evolution,  135 
Facts,  basis  of  science,  I2ff,,  26. 
Faith,  development  of,  29  ff. ;  genesis 

of,  28  ;  place  of,  in  life,  24. 
Fall,  the,  338  ft-. 
Family  life  as  an  integrating  factor 

in  social  evolution,  229. 
Feeble-mindedness,  222. 
Fertilisation,  94,  96,  loi  ff. 
Fertility  of  varieties,  146. 
Fiske,  John,  on  Immortality,  368. 
Food   of  plants   and   animals   con- 
trasted, 90  ff. 
Functional  activity  of  organism,  61  ; 
inertia,  84,  85. 

Galton,  Sir  F.,  178,  193,  194,  195^ 
215. 


Gastrula,  98. 

Geddes,  P.,  162. 

Generalisations  of  science  probable 

only,  21. 
Genetic  variations,  i7off.,  202,  234. 
Geographical    proofs  of  Evolution, 

145- 
Germ  cells,  104,  200. 
Germ  plasm,  iii,  200,  202. 
God,  conception  of,  30. 
Gotch,  Professor,  63. 
Growth  of  organism,  87  ;  of  crystal, 

87  ;  formula  for,  87,  94  ;  cycle 

of,  94,  96,  99. 

Habit,  83. 

Haldane,  J.  S.,  60, 

Harris,  D.  F.,  84,  85. 

Harvey,  109. 

Hearing,  limitations  of  sense  of,  17. 

Hearnshavi^,  Professor,  131,  132. 

Heredity,  theories  of,  69,  76; 
associated  with  the  chromo- 
somes, 72,  85,  109,  138,  chap. 
VIII.  ;  Weismann's  theory  of, 
200  ff.  ;  mnemic  theory  of, 
206  ff.  ;  Mendel's  theory  of, 
208  ff. ;  and  responsibility,  237. 

Herrmann,  W. ,  4. 

Hertwig,  58. 

Hibbert,  W.,  64. 

Historical   method,  38;    proofs    of 

Evolution,  145. 
Hoffmann,  F.  S.,  15,  23. 
Hunzinger,    A.    W.,    on    Miracle, 

352. 
Hurst,  213. 
Huxley,  T.  H.,  29,  153,  284. 


Ideals,  origin  of,  32. 
Immanence  of  God,  142,  293. 
Immortality,      personal,      50 
Protozoa,  95,  chap.  xvii. 
Immunity,  213. 
Immutability  of  species,  145,  146. 


of 


379 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 


Incompleteness     of    Science,     32, 

33- 

Individuality  not  predicable  of 
Protozoa,  95  ;  01  organisms  in 
general,  96  ;  evolution  of,  98  ; 
of  chromosomes,  107. 

Inertia  of  living  matter,  84,  85. 

Influence  of  Science  upon  Religion, 
chap.  II. 

Insanity,  increase  of,  220. 

Instinct,  83,  311  ff. 

Insufliciency  of  chemical  interpreta- 
tion of  life,  57. 

Intelligibility  of  the  universe, 
262. 

Interstitial  growth,  87. 

Intracellular  units,  76,  78. 

Irritability,  73,  80  ff. 

Isolation,  139. 

James,  "William,  365. 

Jennings,  H.  S.,  301. 

Jeremias,  A.,  278  «. 

Jesus  and  Nature,  9  ;  and  suffering, 

166. 
Jevons,  W.  S.,  21. 
Johannsen,  179. 

Jordan,  D.  S.,  124,  190 ff.,  199. 
"Jukes,  The,"  223 ff. 

Kant,  20,  123. 

Kapteyn,  254. 

Keller,  Helen,  16 w.,  18. 

Knowledge,  unity  of,  3  ;  criteria  of, 

1 1  ;  nature  of,  23,  48. 
Knox,  John,  197. 
Kropolkin,  Prince,  162. 

Lamarckian  principles,  29  ;  factors, 

151,  202,  238,239. 
Lankester,    Sir    E.     Ray,    2,    35, 

267. 
Laws  of  Nature,   22  ff.,   131  ff.  ;  of 

growth,  114,  259,  353. 
Leduc,  S.,  57  n. 

3 


Life,  characteristics  of,  54  ff.  ;  of 
seeds,  54  ;  and  matter,  64 ;  units 
of,  72  ;  history,  38,  93 ff.,  102. 

Limitations  of  science,  16,  24. 

Linin,  nature  of,  70 ff.,  80,  99. 

Linnoeus,  definition  of  species,  285. 

Lodge,  Sir  O.,  33,  331,  354  «• 

Loeb,  J.,  82,  300. 

Logion  of  Jesus,  52. 

McConnell,  S.  D.,  on  Immortality, 

373- 

Maeterlinck,  47. 

Maleness  and  femaleness,  105. 

Mai  thus,  1 48. 

Man  and  Mendelism,  212. 

Mast,  S.  O.,  301. 

Mathematical  certainty,  14,  22. 

Matter,  relation  of  life  to,  64,  290, 

365. 
Maturation,  106,  116. 
Maxwell,  Clerk,  290. 
Mechanical    interpretation    of  life, 

its  insufficiency,  59  ff. 
Mendelism,  no,  208  ff. 
Mental  Evolution,  chap.  xiii. 
Meredith,  G.,  49. 

Metabolism,  73,  86  ff.;  stages  of,  92. 
Metaphyta,  92. 
Metazoa,  92. 
Method,  scientific,  38. 
Milnes  Marshall,  147. 
Mind,    evolution   of,    chap.    XIIT.  ; 

relation  of,  to  matter,  318. 
Miracle,  134,  chap.  xvi. ;  possibility 

of,  348 ;  interpretation  of,  352. 
Mivart,  14;/.,  45,  284. 
Mnemic  theory  of  heredity,  206  ff. 
Modifications,  120  ff. 
Molecular  vibration,  18. 
Moore,  Aubrey,  286. 
Moore,  B.,  89. 
Moral  aspects  of  science,  8. 
Moral  evil,  332  ff. 
Moral  law,  133. 


80 


INDEX 


Morality,  Evolution  and,  chap.  xiv. ; 

and  natural  selection,  324. 
More,  L.  T.,  27. 
Morphology,  69,  86,  103,  145. 
Moulton,  R.  G.,  278;/. 
Mozley,  25. 
Mutations,  129,  151,  177  fif.,  193. 

Natural  and  Supernatural,  295,  361. 

Natural  selection,  iii,  125,  139, 
148  ff.,  170,  172,  173,  175,  176, 
177,  183,  195'ff.,  203,  267,  268, 
298,  322 ;   and   morality,  324, 

325- 

Naturalism,  33. 

Nature,  aesthetic  implications  of, 
24  ;  laws  of,  22  ;  religious  con- 
templation of,  10 ;  moral  signifi- 
cance, of,  8  ;  philosophy  of,  6. 

Necessitarianism,  140. 

Nervous  system,  comparative  study 

of,  i54fr. 

Newman,  20  n. 

Nothing,  creation  out  of,  279. 

Nucleolus,  structure  and  function 
of,  76. 

Nucleus  of  cell,  69  ff  ;  minute 
structure  of,  70  ;  nuclear  mem- 
brane, 70  ;  nuclear  reticulum, 
70  ;  nuclear  sap,  77;  its  part  in 
reproduction,  103  fif. 

CEnothera  lainarckiana,  180,  182. 

Oersted,  14. 

Ontogeny,    68,     207,     259,     266, 

341- 
Order  in  Nature,  263  fif. 
Organic    unity   of    the   body,    79 ; 

Evolution,  125  fif. 
Organism  and  environment,  94. 
Origin  of  species,  144  fif. 
Original  Sin,  doctrine  of,  335  fif. 
Orthogenesis,  266. 
Osborn,  H.  F.,  141,  267. 
Over-Belief,  48,  50. 

38 


Pain,  capacity  for,  154,  333. 
Palaeontology,  68  ;  bearings  on  cau- 
sation of  Evolution,  176,  267. 
Paley,  42,  127,  256. 
Pando7-ma,  103. 
Pangenesis,  125,  151. 
Panmixia,  152. 
Parable  of  rose  and  lily,  124. 
Paramecium,  reactions  of,   81,  87, 
95 ;      reproduction     of,      102, 
104 «.,  247. 
Parthenogenesis,     96,      103,      in, 

169. 
Pearson,   Karl,  193,  194,  195,  215, 

220. 
Peyton,  W.  W.,  166. 
Phylogeny,  26. 

Physiology,  69,  105,  145,  154. 
Pinsent,  Mrs.,  225. 
Plants   and  animals   distinguished, 

53,  92. 
Poulton,    Professor  E.   B.,    146;/., 

285. 
Preformation,  119,  122. 
Primitive  function  of  linin,  76,  81. 
Probable,  sphere  of  the,  21,  23. 
Progress  in  Evolution,  137. 
Proofs  of  Evolution,  145. 
Protoplasm,    chemical   composition 
of,    56;    structure   of,    57,   92, 

93- 

Protozoa,  67,  69,  70,  74,  82,  84, 
93,  94 ;  immortality  of,  95, 
96;  reproduction  of,  loi,  in, 
112,  128,  155,  169,  300,  315. 

Providence,  48,  296. 

Rabl,  107. 

Reality,  knowledge  of,  20,  27. 

Recapitulation    theory,     147,    195, 

340. 
Reduction  division  of  chromosomes, 

106,  201. 
Regeneration,  organic  power  of,  60, 

116. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERPRETATION  OF  NATURE 


Regression,  Galton's  Law  of,  178, 
194. 

Reid,  Archdall,  196,  197,  204, 
300  n. 

Relations,  of  science  and  theology, 
2ff.,  34,  35,  37  ff.  ;  constitu- 
tive of  science,  15;  of  organism 
to  environment,  94. 

Reproduction,  characteristic  of  life, 
62,  98  ff. 

Respiration,  on  mountains,  60 ; 
characteristic  of  life,  88. 

Response,  life  the  science  of,  80. 

Responsibility,   personal,   189,  190, 

235  ff. 
Rice,  W.  N.,  24. 
Roe^  Richard,  Heredity  of ,  190  ff. 
Royce,  Professor,  on   Immortality, 

372. 

Sabbath,    institution    of    the,    278, 

279. 
Schurman,  J.  G.,  141. 
Science,   relation    to    Religion,    5  ; 

basis  of,  12  ;  definition  of,  14  ; 

incompleteness    of,    14  ;    as   a 

divine  revelation,  41. 
Scott,  W.  B.,  on  determinate  varia- 
tion, 176. 
Seeds,  life  of,  54,  85,  89. 
Segmentation  of  egg,  112. 
Self-adjustment  of  organism,  59. 
Self-consciousness,  129,  245. 
Semon,  206,  305. 
Senses,    limitations   of  the,    i6ff.  ; 

additional,  17,  20. 
Sentiency,  129. 
Service,    place    of,    in    the    world, 

165  ff 
Sex,  determination  of,  106. 
Sexual  selection,  125,  139. 
Shaler,  N.  S.,  216,  367. 
Shaw,  Bernard,  232. 
Shutlleworlh,  G.  E.,  234,  235. 
Sight,  limitations  of  sense  of,  17. 


Sin,  331  ff.  ;  in  relation  to  Evolu- 
tion, 333. 

Smell,  sense  of,  16,  19. 

Social  Evolution,  218,  229. 

Sociological  aspects  of  Heredity, 
chap.  rx. 

Somatic  cells,  104,  200. 

Special  Creation,  doctrine  of,  282  ff. 

Special  Providences,  296. 

Species,  characters  of,  145  ff. 

Spencer,  H.,  76,  123,  162,  258,  324. 

Standfuss,  204. 

Star-streaming,  254. 

Sterility  and  species,  145  ff. 

Stimulus,  response  of  organisms  to, 
80  ff,  119. 

Strasburger,  109. 

Suarez  and  Special  Creation,  284. 

Suffering,  place  of,  in  the  world, 
165  ff 

Suicide  as  a  sociological  phenome- 
non, 226  ff.  ;  relation  to  insan- 
ity, 228. 

Supernatural,  relation  to  the  natural, 
35,  295,  361. 

Swedenborg,  123. 

Tactism,    nature   of,  81,   300,  315, 

321. 
Teleology,  265  ff. 
Temper,  scientific,  in  religion,  44  ; 

religious,  in  science,  51. 
Tennyson,  Lord,  153,  256. 
Theology  and  Science,  5. 
Thomson,  J.  A.,  162. 
Thorndike,  E.  L.,  309,  311. 
Time,  269. 
Tower,  W.  L.,  240. 
Tropism,  nature  of,  82,  300. 
Tyler,  J.  M.,  161. 

Uexktill,  von,  126. 
Ultimate  units  of  life,  ']'^. 
Unicellular  forms  of  life.     See  Pro- 
tozoa. 
82 


INDEX 


Unity,  of  Knowledge,  2,  3  ;  of 
Nature,  3,  4,  262  ;  of  the 
organism,  79  ff.,  9^,  9^- 

Variation,  in;  in  segmentation, 
113,  139,  141  ;  in  relation  to 
Natural  Selection,  151,  chap. 
VII. ;  dvie  to  the  environment, 
241,  268. 

Virchow,  109. 

Volition  and  creation,  259. 

Volvox  globator,  67,  103,  104. 

Vries,  de,  115,  i77,  178,  i79,  181  ff- 

Waggett,  P.  N.,  7w. 

Wall  of  cell,  78,  89. 

Wallace,  A.  R.,  148,  18 1,  298. 


Waller,  A.  D.,  54. 

Ward,  J.,  29. 

Weismann,  76  ;  on  immortality  of 
Protozoa,  95;  104,  III,  I15, 
116,152,170;  theory  of  hered- 
ity, 200 ff.,  214,  236. 

Wells,  H.  G.,  48. 

Wesley,  John,  287  ff. 

White,  A.  D.,  37. 

Wilson,  E.  B.,  73,  78,  98,  114, 
117,  118,  119,  121. 

Wonder,  the  sense  of,  51,  355. 

Wood,  Rev.  T.,  155,  157. 

Woodruff,  95. 

Woodward,  Dr.  Smith,  267. 

World-religions,  place  and  value  of, 
40. 


383 


Printed  by 

Morrison  &  Gibb  Limited 

Edinburgh 


Date  Due 

ike,.    *Af^  ^ 

m  ^" 

1 

D   :^       i 

cf/   n  ,^    . 

'^Kiiiifai 

\fih 

^T^ 

"^^ffiininini 

■Mr 

(|) 

■?'^* 


